Bursa opens higher on strong ringgit

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Monday, backed by the strong ringgit, while tracking the performance of Wall Street which climbed to record levels last Friday.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,832.55, up 3.72 points, from Friday's close of 1,828.83, after opening 6.38 points higher at 1,835.21.
Gainers outpaced losers 222 to 110, while 235 counters were unchanged, 1,293 untraded and 34 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 307.95 million shares worth RM127.19 million.
Public Investment Bank Bhd said the bullish performance of Wall Street, which saw the main stock indices enjoying a third successive week of gains, indicated that investors appeared unfazed by the US government shutdown.
Alliance DBS Reseach, meanwhile, said buying power was stronger than selling pressure and the FBM KLCI would likely trade above the 1,828.83 level.
Among heavyweights, PChem and MISC gained 11 sen each to RM8.21 and RM7.59 respectively, Hong Leong rose 28 sen to RM17.8 and PetDag went up 34 sen to RM24.94.
Of the actives, HengYuan jumped 64 sen to RM14.94, Nestle was up 40 sen to RM106.3, DLady improved 32 sen to RM62.40.
The FBM Emas Index was 25.10 points higher at 13,220.93, the FBMT 100 Index rose 27.60 points to 12,888.20, but the FBM 70 up 40.09 points to 16,512.46.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 36.93 points to 13,664.39, but the FBM Ace improved 12.03 points to 6,725.15.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 35.61 points to 17,272.60 and the Plantation Index gained 9.03 points to 8,046.90, while the Industrial Index advanced 18.52 points to 3,386.54.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM163.27 per gramme, down 0.32 sen from RM163.59 at 5.00pm last Friday. — Bernama