KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday on bargain hunting boosting a rebound in financial services heavyweights despite Wall Street’s negative performance overnight, according to an analyst.

At 9.08am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.17 points to 1,415.42 from Wednesday’s close of 1,414.25.

The barometer index opened 2.19 points better at 1,416.44.

The market breadth, however, was negative with decliners leading gainers 150 to 129, while 203 counters were unchanged, 1,812 untraded and 65 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 181.42 million units valued at RM66.72 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended on a weak note as concerns over First Republic Bank and the overall health of the banking sector overshadowed solid earnings from the big tech companies.

“Hence, despite Nasdaq closing 55 points higher, the Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average slipped 229 points with the US 10-year yield inching higher at 3.445 per cent.

“On the home front, overall trading remained lacklustre, attributed to the absence of fresh catalysts from apparent selling on the financial and energy related stocks,” he told Bernama.

As such, he said Rakuten Trade reckons sentiment to stay cautious although there will be some bargain hunting activities appearing soon, thus it anticipates the index to trend between 1,410 and 1,420 today.

“Meanwhile, worries on the US banking sector continued to affect crude oil prices with Brent crude easing to below the US$78 per barrel,” he added.

In the meantime, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank gained three sen to RM8.64 and CIMB increased one sen to RM5.06, while Public Bank and CelcomDigi were flat at RM3.89 and RM4.40 respectively, and Petronas Chemicals fell three sen to RM7.12.

As for the actives, Classita and Kronologi Asia were 2.5 sen higher at 18.5 sen and 61 sen respectively, Vinvest inched up half-a-sen to 20.5 sen and Yong Tai gained 1.5 sen to 34 sen, while Star Media lost 1.5 sen to 60 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 2.17 points to 10,394.25, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 2.91 points to 10,080.59, but the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 2.21 points to 10,748.56.

The FBM ACE Index was 17.20 points better at 5,367.86, while the FBM 70 index dropped 18.47 points to 13,540.25.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.07 of a point to 171.55, the Financial Services Index gained 32.71 points to 15,524.75 and the Plantation Index went up 5.90 points to 6,890.36. – Bernama / pic TMR File