Bursa Malaysia opens lower, but turns higher thereafter

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower, but turned higher thereafter lifted by mild buying support by selected heavyweights mainly in finance-linked counters, dealers said.
At 9.09am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.63 points firmer at 1,669.31 from Thursday's close of 1,665.68.
The index opened 0.64 of-a-point lower at 1,665.04.
On the broader market, sentiment was positive with gainers outpacing losers 125 to 83, while 129 counters were unchanged, 1,577 untraded and 85 others suspended.
Volume stood at 89.93 million units valued at RM49.36 million.
Maybank IB Research said mid-year window dressing coupled with the firmer Wall Street overnight could lift the FBM KLCI higher today.
Nevertheless, it said trading could be volatile as sentiment remains cautious amid domestic and external uncertainties.
"Technically, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade between 1,650 and 1,700 today. Downside supports are 1,650 and 1,630," it said in a research note today.
For heavyweights on Bursa, Maybank and CIMB each rose six sen to RM8.90 and RM5.56 respectively, while Public Bank gained 10 sen to RM23.10.
Tenaga eased six sen to RM13.60 while Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM8.41.
Among actives, Icon Offshore bagged two sen to 13.5 sen, Barakah recovered 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen but VS lost seven sen to RM1.35.
The FBM Emas Index improved 21.39 points to 11,814.46 and the FBM70 was 16.34 points higher at 14,451.82.
The FBMT100 Index was up 22.23 points at 11,607.03 but the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 1.89 points to 11,886.67.
The FBM Ace Index rose 18.18 points to 5,137.84.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index gained 82.74 points to 16,585.73, but the Plantation Index dropped 37.96 points to 7,487.38 and the Industrial Index lost 12.16 points to 3,103.62.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM157.02 per gramme, down 17 sen from RM157.19 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama