KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher today on the back of positive investor sentiment following the revival of infrastructure projects by the government namely the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and Bandar Malaysia, dealers said.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.11 points to 1,625.18, from Friday’s closing of 1,622.07.
The benchmark index opened 0.49 of-a-point firmer at 1,622.56.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 194 to 108, while 198 counters were unchanged, 1,414 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 310.32 million shares worth RM171.85 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd’s (MSSB) in a research note said the lower liners and broader market shares are set to continue their ascend over the near-term on rotational plays with construction stocks set to see further active trading.
“We see further near-term upsides on Bursa Malaysia as we think the selling may have abated for now after the key index touched a new three-year low.
“At the same time, we think that the spate of negative news on the Malaysian economy may retreat, thereby, potentially providing some breathing space for the local stock market to break its downtrend,” it added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM9.12, Public Bank was down by two sen to RM22.50, Petronas Chemicals and IHH were flat each at RM8.95 and RM5.56 respectively, while Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM12.24.
Of the actively-traded construction stocks, Ekovest increased 26.5 sen to 93.5 sen, Iris added one sen to 17.5 sen, and QES rose 1.5 sen to 26.5 sen.
For the top gainers, property stock IWCity improved 30 sen to RM1.32, followed by Ekovest and DWL which recovered 20 sen to RM1.51.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 41.64 points to 11,538.87, the FBMT 100 Index was 36.62 points better at 11,361.50 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 49.70 points to 11,739.72.
The FBM 70 jumped 106.76 points to 14,489.27 and the FBM Ace was higher by 8.14 points to 4,700.99.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 37.46 points to 16,782.72, the Plantation Index perked 4.57 points to 7,233.48 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.22 of-a-point higher at 168.52.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were untraded in the early session on lack of demand, a dealer said.
At 9.45 am, April 2019, May 2019, June 2019 and July 2019 stood at RM170, RM170, RM169.90 and RM170 a gramme respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 34 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold increased 21 sen to RM164.04 per gramme. — Bernama
