Bursa Malaysia opens higher on oil price surge
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on better sentiment as crude oil prices surged after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) reached a deal to cut oil supply.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,621.81 points, up 2.69 points from Wednesday's close of 1,619.12.
The index opened 1.98 points higher at 1,621.10.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 141 to 94, with 121 counters unchanged, 1,327 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 116.01 million shares worth RM47.82 million.
TA Securities said the local market saw the return of foreign selling pressure on key blue chips which is expected to dampen near-term sentiment.
However, it should be offset by the Opec deal to cut oil output, which could lift oil and gas related stocks, it said.
"The FBM KLCI's immediate resistance level stays at 1,643, with support at 1,616," it added.
On Wednesday in Vienna, the Opec reached a deal to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels daily to raise global prices.
The Opec nations currently produce 33.7 million barrels of oil daily and will bring production down to 32.5 million barrels.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM7.81, Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM6.85, TNB and Public Bank were flat at RM14.04 and RM19.58, while IHH Healthcare shed five sen to RM6.55.
Of actives, Hibiscus Petroleum and KNM added two sen each to 29.5 sen and 33 sen respectively, Sumatec and Perisai Petroleum gained half-a-sen each to six sen and five sen, and Sapurakencana rose 12 sen to RM1.56.
The FBM Emas Index increased 7.46 points to 11,363.26, the FBMT100 Index gained 4.71 points at 11,096.73, the FBM Ace bagged 5.74 points to 4,718.99 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index improved 3.73 of a point to 11,904.92.
The FBM 70 fell 44.15 points at 13,089.14.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 16.81 points lower at 7,659.96 and the Industrial Index slid 7.11 point at 3,047, but the Finance Index gained 3.31 points to 14,199.38.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM162.06 per gramme, up RM3.03 from RM165.09 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama