KL shares open slightly higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher this morning, tracking the overnight gains on the Wall Street as the US Federal Reserve is expected to push through its first rate hike of 2018 at its next policy meeting, dealer said.
At 9.02am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,847.70, up 1.31 points from 1,846.39 at Friday's close.
The key index opened 0.53 points better at 1,846.92.
On the local front, market breadth was positive with 90 gainers against 78 losers, while 173 counters were unchanged, 1,551 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 83.62 million shares worth RM18.72 million.
The dealer said although the shares on the local bourse were positive at opening, it may turn choppy ahead of the Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
"Markets are struggling to stay positive, given the torrents of potential headwinds. Whether it's the White House revolving door, an escalation of a global trade war or Japan's brewing political scandal, the markets are grappling to find an equilibrium.
"But when you toss in the prospect of a more hawkish Fed, it's not surprising risk sentiment continues to trade poorly," OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM10.32, Public Bank rose eight sen to RM23.10, CIMB gained three sen to RM7.25, while Tenaga decreased four sen to RM15.64.
Of the actives, SKH and Dagang Nexchange added half-a-sen each to nine sen and 44 sen, respectively, Vizione eased half-a-sen to 15 sen, while Sumatec was flat at six sen.
The FBM Emas Index improved 4.39 points to 13,038.03, the FBMT 100 Index was 3.90 points better at 12,785.97, but the FBM Emas Syariah Index decreased 10.60 points to 13,209.57.
The FBM 70 declined 12.82 points to 15,680.67 and the FBM Ace was 28.81 points stronger at 5,953.82.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index advanced 11.96 points to 18,050.14, the Industrial Index inched up 6.2 points to 3,276.93, and the Plantation Index was 10.66 points better at 7,967.16.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM159.66 per gramme, down 68 sen from RM160.34 at 5.00pm last Friday. — Bernama