Bursa Malaysia opens higher, tracking gains on Wall Street

BURSA Malaysia opened higher on Monday, tracking further gains on Wall Street amidst improving market sentiment.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 6.49 points to 1,429.08 from Friday’s closing of 1,422.59.

The main index opened 4.18 points higher at 1,426.77.

Market breadth was positive as gainers thumped decliners 295 to 90, while 219 counters were unchanged, 1,622 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 235.62 million units worth RM93.95 million.

In a note  Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse is expected to rebound in anticipation of a brighter outlook after Malaysia secured RM170 billion worth of investment commitments from China.

“With China agreeing to explore new areas of cooperation with Malaysia, sectors that will benefit from the investments are likely to hog the limelight, such as construction, building material, green technology and automotive,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals gained 15 sen to RM7.22, MR DIY added six sen to RM1.61, MISC rose 10 sen to RM7.32, Press Metal earned five sen to RM4.92 and Hong Leong Bank rose 18 sen to RM20.40.

As for the actives, MMAG and Velesto Energy stayed flat at two sen and 21 sen, respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum increased seven sen to RM1.06, and Perdana Petroleum added one sen to 19.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 47.36 points to 10,466.99, the FBMT 100 Index rose 46.53 points to 10,160.56, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 50.58 points to 10,767.01.

The FBM 70 Index went up 63.73 points to 13,576.11 and the FBM ACE Index was 23.64 points better at 5,250.44.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index grew 74.03 points to 15,782.73, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.55 points to 172.63, the Plantation Index firmed 31.36 points to 6,772.64, and the Energy Index advanced 21.74 points to 858.55. — Bernama