Bursa Malaysia snaps eight-day losing streak, opens higher
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped an eight-day losing streak to open higher today as bargain-hunting took place.
The local bourse slumped to an over six-and-a-half month low at yesterday's close. But at 9.08am today, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.02 points stronger at 1,725.38 from Tuesday's close of 1,715.36.
The index opened 4.30 points firmer at 1,719.66.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 143 to 87, while 171 counters were unchanged, 1,510 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Volume stood at 99.55 million units valued at RM70.33 million.
A dealer said yesterday's heavy selling had spurred bargain hunters to pick up the cheap valuations.
"At the same time, many investors too have returned to work after the Hari Raya holiday and higher crude oil prices also lent support to the local bourse," he added.
For heavyweights, Maybank perked 11 sen to RM9.39, Public Bank bagged 24 sen to RM23.60, CIMB was three sen higher at RM5.89, while Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM14.16 and RM8.36 respectively.
Among actives, MI Equipment and MyEG gained three sen each to RM1.45 and RM1.01, GSB inched up 1.5 sen to 20 sen, Sapura Energy was two sen better at 62 sen, while TH Heavy was unchanged at 5.5 sen.
Nestle led the top gainers list in rising RM1.00 to RM148.00, followed by F&N which advanced 48 sen to RM38.00, United Plantations improved 28 sen to RM27.50, Top Glove perked 26 sen to RM11.58 and Hong Leong Financial rose 22 sen to RM18.48.
The FBM Emas Index accumulated 60.06 points to 12,155.31, the FBM70 was 54.41 points higher at 14,676.55, the FBMT100 Index gained 63.17 points to 11,944.51, the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 46.66 points to 12,215.38 and the FBM Ace Index edged up 15.44 points to 5,248.45.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index jumped 84.71 points to 17,166.29 and the Industrial Index ticked up 0.87 of-a-point to 3,125.05.But, the Plantation Index lost 3.16 points to 7,640.23.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened untraded in early trading today.
At 9.15am, June 2018, July 2018, August 2018 and September 2018 stood at RM165.10, RM165.45, RM165.55 and RM165.90 a gramme respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 38 contracts.
At 9.30am, the price of physical gold was down 57 sen to RM158.72 a gramme. — Bernama