Bursa Malaysia opens higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher today despite investors being pessimistic over the market's performance, dealers said.

At 9.04am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 1.11 points to 1,630.07 from last Friday's close of 1,628.96.

The index opened 1.6 points higher at 1,630.56.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 85 to 50, while 125 counters remained unchanged, with 1,436 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 38.47 million shares worth RM13.08 million.

Public Investment Bank Bhd said in a note that the FBM KLCI was set to open lower today after Wall Street ended last week on a hesitant note.

"Treasury bond prices rallied and the Dollar retreated, as participants digested the latest US jobs report and looked ahead to Italy's constitutional referendum on Sunday," it said.

Meanwhile, RHB Research in separate note advised traders to maintain short positions, below the 1,636-point level.

The FBM Emas Index rose 7.64 points to 11,406.81, the FBMT100 Index edged up 7.62 points to 11,138.65, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 12.98 points to 11,939.12.

The FBM 70 was up 9.14 points to 13,085.55 and the FBM Ace gained 6.05 points to 4,784.62.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 17.09 points weaker at 7,701.15 and the Industrial Index improved 7.7 points to 3,071.24, while the Finance Index shed 9.96 points to 14,278.31.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM7.86, Sime Darby rose five sen to RM8.18 and IHH Healthcare improved two sen to RM6.40.

TNB eased two sen to RM14.02 and Petronas Chemicals went down seven sen to RM6.81, while Public Bank was flat at RM19.64.

Of the actives, RGB International earned half-a-sen to 24.5 sen, MyEG rose three sen to RM2.30, while AtSystematization Bhd, Sumatec and Versatile were all flat at three sen, 5.5 sen and RM1.40 respectively.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM162.76 per gramme, down 46 sen from RM163.22 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama