Bursa M'sia opens higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking the mixed performances of its Asian peers despite the softer lead from overnight Wall Street, dealers said.
At 9.04am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.53 points higher at 1,740.58 from Wednesday's close of 1,739.05.
The index opened 1.16 points better at 1,740.21.
On the broader market, gainers led losers by 106 to 76, while 181 counters remained unchanged with 1,512 untraded and 23 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 125.39 million shares worth RM28.04 million.
In a note today, Alliance DBS Research said, the market has been drifting lower since Sept 13 this year with only seven market days up and 22 down over the past 29 market days.
However, with the benchmark index about three points away from the 1,730 level measuring from the day's low of 1,733.67, selling interest began to fizzle out because 1,730 is seen as a demand level, it said.
"Following the firmer close yesterday, we should see buying attempt again with immediate hurdle at 1,740.
"The analysis of yesterday's overall market action revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure. As such, FBMKLCI would likely trade above the 1,740.51 today," it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added two sen each to RM9.26 and RM20.48 respectively.
TNB, Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM14.34, RM9.08 and RM7.45 respectively.
Of the actives, PUC and its warrant edged up half-a-sen each to 18 sen and 9.5 sen respectively, GPA Holdings warrant and NiHsin warrant rose one each to five sen and 6.5 sen while D.B.E. Gurney was flat at 3.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index improved 7.98 points to 12,498.71, FBMT100 Index was 8.78 points firmer at 12,141.15, FBM Emas Shariah Index added 4.21 points to 12,869.79 and the FBM 70 gained 3.95 points to 15,207.28.
The FBM Ace fell 24.98 points to 6,813.18.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 33.43 points higher at 7,959.72, Industrial Index added 1.26 points to 3,198.63 and the Finance Index rose 13.50 points to 16,274.15.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was slightly higher in early trade today with one contract month traded.
At 9.40, November 2017 was up 38 ticks to RM176.0, while October 2017, December 2017 and January 2018 were pegged at RM173.90, RM174.10 and RM174.60, respectively.
Volume stood at one lot while open interest amounted to 101 contracts.
At 9.30 am, physical gold was 84 sen firmer at RM168.35 per gramme. — Bernama