21 minutes
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday, buoyed by buying in local stocks, namely Petronas Gas, MISC, Digi and Hong Leong Bank.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.66 points to 1,671.77 from Wednesday’s close of 1,668.11.
The index opened 7.05 points stronger at 1,675.16.
Market breadth was positive, as gainers beat losers 114 to 72, while 116 counters were unchanged, 1,557 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 55.94 million shares worth RM22.81 million.
Together Petronas Gas, MISC, Digi and Hong Leong Bank contributed 4.253 to the composite index.
Petronas Gas jumped 32 sen to RM18.90, MISC added 14 sen to RM6.69, Digi gained eight sen to RM4.50 and Hong Leong Bank was 24 sen higher at RM20.54.
“Despite the slightly lower trend seen among the other Asian exchanges, Bursa Malaysia seems to have support from investors... perhaps they’re all have resumed work after the long weekend. We hope this momentum will continue in 2019,” a dealer said.
He added that with the global oil market slowly rising, investors expect it could provide some positive momentum to Bursa Malaysia.
The benchmark Brent crude is currently trading at US$54.91 per barrel, up by 2.06 per cent, boosted by signs of tighter supplies from Saudi Arabia, which offset the record output in the United States and Russia.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell five sen to RM9.34, Public Bank was down eight sen to RM24.58, as Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals each slipped four sen to RM13.40 and 9.20 respectively.
Of actives, Inari Amertron declined 17 sen to RM1.30, Hubline was flat at 4.5 sen, while Reach Energy and My EG added 1.5 sen to 28.5 sen and 96.5 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index improved 18.73 points to 11,411.16, the FBMT 100 Index increased 19.57 points to 11,326.78, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 36.73 points to 11,361.69.
The FBM Ace Index was 26.28 points weaker at 4,263.26, while the FBM 70 advanced 0.70 of-a-point to 12,985.75.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index inched down 7.38 points to 17,177.57, the Plantation Index went up 30.60 points to 6,794.69 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.24 of a point to 165.20.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were untraded in the early session today on lack of demand.
At 9.35 am, January 2019, February 2019, March 2019 and April 2019 were pegged at RM170.40, RM170.50, RM170.60 and RM170.70 a gramme respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 18 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was 30 sen higher at RM165.99 a gramme. — Bernama
