Bursa Malaysia opens higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, prompted by the stronger ringgit and the re-entry of foreign funds into the equity market since last week.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.33 points better at 1,742.82 from Monday's close of 1,737.49.
The key index opened 5.78 points higher at 1,743.27.
Gainers led losers 153 to 76 while 183 counters remained unchanged with 1,428 untraded and 20 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 86.30 million shares worth RM47.08 million.
A dealer said news report on steady foreign institutional funds buying RM22.7 million net of Malaysian equities last week boosted investors' appetite on the local bourse.
"Besides, the firmer ringgit which opened at 4.1895 against the US dollar versus yesterday's close of 4.1900, also jacked up investors' interest in Bursa Malaysia," he said.
Technically, Maybank Investment Bank Research expected the FBM KLCI to trade between 1,733 and 1,745 today, with downside support at 1,730 and 1,713.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained 23 sen to RM9.39, Tenaga and CIMB added two sen each to RM14.84 and RM6.15, respectively, Public Bank fell four sen RM20.42 while Sime Darby was flat at RM9.06.
Of actives, Dataprep inched up 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Sumatec and Palette was half-a-sen higher each at 5.5 sen and 41 sen, respectively, while Malayan United Industries and Puc were flat at 21.5 sen and 22 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was 40.14 points firmer at 12,597.25, FBMT 100 Index climbed 39.05 points to 12,231.35, FBM Emas Syariah Index perked 29.96 points to 13,042.85, the FBM 70 jumped 55.88 points to 15,597.92 but the FBM Ace decreased 3.04 points to 6,783.94.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 108.16 points to 16,288.46, the Industrial Index was 4.91 points better at 3,196.81 but the Plantation Index was 15.77 points weaker at 7,939.89.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.29 per gramme, down seven sen from RM166.36 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama