KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia's key index opened slightly higher today in line with stronger Wall Street performance overnight.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.68 of-a-point to 1,588.62 from yesterday's close of 1,587.94. It opened 0.82 of-a-point higher at 1,588.04.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 173 to 171, while 295 counters were unchanged, 1,651 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 200.14 million units worth RM84.85 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a research note, believes bargain-hunting activities might surface on the local bourse following the strong gains from Wall Street overnight.
“Besides, foreign investors continued to stay as net buyers over the past five trading days.
We expect trading focus to surround on the potential beneficiaries in the upcoming Budget 2022. Both the crude palm oil (CPO) and Brent oil prices staged a rebound as energy crunch persists, while gold crossed above US$1,800 mark,” the brokerage said.
It noted that technology stocks might be on focus following the overnight gains on Nasdaq.
“Besides, the bounce in commodity prices such as CPO, Brent oil and gold may shine a light on the plantation, oil and gas and gold sectors. We expect the construction and property sectors to trend higher prior to Budget 2022,” said Malacca Securities.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.16, Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM8.82, Hong Leong Bank rose four sen to RM18.88, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.24 and RM6.55, respectively, while TNB shed three sen to RM9.73 and Axiata fell two sen to RM3.95.
Of the actives, Vortex and Tanco both inched up half-a-sen to 10 sen and 26 sen, respectively, Guh Holdings jumped seven sen to 71 sen, Dagang Nexchange and Waja went up one sen each to 78 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively, while WZ Satu, Tiger Synergy and KNM were flat at 18.5 sen, 4.5 sen and 22 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 9.28 points to 11,712.19, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 8.12 points to 11,345.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 12.09 points to 12,786.91, the FBM 70 was 23.92 points higher at 15,392.18, and the FBM ACE bagged 25.38 points to 7,182.86.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.29 of-a-point to 210.82, the Plantation Index widened 17.17 points to 7,024.84, and the Financial Services Index was 12.28 points higher at 15,757.22. – Bernama, October 26, 2021
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