Bursa Malaysia higher in early session
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, as the positive performance of Wall Street last Friday spilled over to the local bourse, which boosted investors' risk appetite.
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.54 points better at 1,724.47 from Friday's close of 1,721.93.
The index opened 0.72 of-a-point higher at 1,722.65.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 145 to 51, while 152 counters were unchanged, 1,559 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Volume stood at 54.25 million units valued at RM26.15 million.
On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones closed 94.52 points higher to settle at 25,019.41, while the S&P 500 was 3.02 points stronger in closing at 2,801.31.
Kenanga Research said in a note that the local bourse would perform higher today in tandem with Wall Street, which ended higher on easing trade tensions.
"We expect an eventual move towards 1,760 (resistance level 1), where a decisive break-through could see the FBM KLCI move on a higher note towards 1,790 (resistance level 2).
"Meanwhile, immediate support levels are identified at resistance-turned-support 1,720 (support level 1) and 1,615 (support level 2)," it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained seven sen to RM9.58, Public Bank rose four sen to RM23.04, Tenaga was up six sen to RM14.70, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.62, but IHH Healthcare slipped three sen to RM5.97.
Among actives, Velesto Energy, Sino Hua-An and AirAsia X were half-a-sen higher at 29 sen, 32 sen and 34.5 sen respectively, MRCB added one sen to 70 sen and My E.G increased two sen to 92.5 sen.
United Plantaions was the biggest gainer in the opening session, bagging 32 sen to RM27.00, while KLK topped the decliners list in losing 24 sen to RM24.04.
The FBM Emas Index was 20.21 points higher at 12,166.42, the FBMT 100 Index increased 18.43 points to 11,966.47 and the FBM 70 bagged 25.94 points to 14,809.57.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index advanced 15.77 points to 12,254.53 and the FBM Ace Index gained 28.39 points to 5,379.73.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 45.56 points to 17,079.95, but, the Industrial Index declined 8.72 points to 3,170.84 and the Plantation Index eased 39.32 points to 7,473.22.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM156.56 per gramme, up 21 sen from RM156.35 at 5.00pm last Friday. — Bernama