KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded from yesterday’s losses to open slightly higher today, spurred by renewed buying interest in selected heavyweights as lower share prices attracted investors back into the market, dealers said.
At 9.23 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.62 of-a-point higher at 1,688.76, from yesterday’s close of 1,688.14 after opening 1.16 points higher at 1,689.30.
Market breadth was positive, as gainers outnumbered losers 206 to 130, while 172 counters were unchanged, 1,391 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 258.40 million shares worth RM105.46 million.
In a research note today, Maybank IB Research believed the the FBM KLCI would range between 1,680 and 1,710 points today, with downside supports at 1,658 and 1,644 points.
“The FBMKLCI Index pared earlier losses but it still ended in negative territory yesterday, taking cue from the weaker regional performance.
“Despite the cooling off yesterday, second and third liners will continue to be in the spotlight, at least in the near term,” it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB rose two sen each to RM9.56 and RM5.68, respectively, TNB added four sen to RM13.58, Petronas Chemicals improved five sen to RM8.47 but Public Bank slipped two sen to RM24.78.
Of actives, Hubline and Inix Technologies earned half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively, V.S Industry gained three sen to 81.5 sen, while Eduspec was flat at 2.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 11.50 points higher at 11,674.22, the FBMT 100 Index increased 10.75 points to 11,557.63, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 16.42 points to 11,591.87, the FBM 70 bagged 39.78 points to 13,735.21 and the FBM Ace Index rose 1.11 points to 4,444.89.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index went up 31.66 points to 17,549.42, the Plantation Index recovered 4.24 points to 7,252.75 and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.81 of-a-point to 162.09.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened untraded today.
As at 9.45 am, January 2019, February 2019, March 2019 and April 2019 remained at RM170.30, RM170.30, RM170.80 and RM170.90 a gramme, respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 23 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was up down by 49 sen to RM165.08 per gramme from RM164.57 per gramme at the close yesterday. — Bernama
