Bursa Malaysia opens higher despite Wall Street’s flattish tone

KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Friday despite Wall Street’s overnight flattish tone after the United States (US) December’s inflation came in higher than expected, raising new questions about the Federal Reserve’s path on interest rates.

At 9.09 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 1.09 points to 1,484.09 from Thursday’s close of 1,483.00.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.24 of-a-point firmer at 1,483.24.

On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 169 to 164, while 304 counters were unchanged, 1,582 untraded and 29 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 264.85 million units worth RM127.67 million.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said following Wall Street’s overnight flattish tone, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13.3 points or 0.04 per cent, while Nasdaq was almost unchanged.

“In Asia, key indices finished mostly higher with strong gains in Japan driven by expectations that the Bank of Japan will maintain its dovish policy in the near-term.

“Over in Hong Kong, stocks rebounded due to bargain hunting and recovery in the tech stocks. As a result, the Hang Seng Index added 205 points or 1.3 per cent to finish above the 16,000 level,” he told Bernama.

Back home, Thong expects buying on local stocks to persist, given the strong support from foreign funds and improving market sentiment.

“We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,480-1,490 range today,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank increased one sen to RM9.01, CIMB perked by three sen to RM5.98, Petronas Chemicals rose ve sen to RM6.93, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.29, while Tenaga Nasional was at at RM10.44.

Of the actives, Sarawak Cable went up 2.5 sen to 33 sen, Ekovest put on two sen to 56.5 sen, Sarawak Consolidated inched up one sen to RM1.13 while Hong Seng Consolidated and Eastern & Oriental were at at two sen and 75 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM 70 Index recovered 0.99 of-a-point to 15,115.46, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 6.05 points to 10,735.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 13.06 points to 11,250.41, and the FBM Emas Index garnered 6.23 points to 11,089.39, but the FBM ACE Index slid 10.14 points to 5,404.48.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.56 of-a-point higher at 175.59, the Financial Services Index was up by 0.67 of-a-point to 16,537.32, the Energy Index strengthened 3.44 points to 866.06, the Plantation Index climbed by 7.85 points to 7,138.47 but the Property Index was down by 2.31 points to 885.83. – BERNAMA / TMRpic