KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s losses to open higher today, supported by renewed buying interest despite softer performance on Wall Street overnight, a dealer said.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.39 points to 1,545.19 from yesterday’s close of 1,538.80.
The index opened 7.18 points higher at 1,545.98.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 306 to 142, while 233 counters were unchanged, 1,562 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total turnover stood at 284.28 million shares worth RM174.42 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street ended mostly lower as the Producer Price Index in April 2022 increase suggested that the inflationary pressure was expected to prolong.
“Given the persistent inflation worries, we believe the selling pressure may prolong on Wall Street, translating to spillover selling activities on the technology sector,” it said in a note.
Back home, the local market is expected to see bargain-hunting activities emerging in the recovery-themed and plantation sectors ahead of the reporting season.
“Traders may also focus on the banking sector following the Overnight Policy Rate hike,” it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased eight sen to RM8.99, Public Bank down one sen to RM4.62, Petronas Chemicals gained eight sen to RM9.95, and IHH Healthcare stayed flat at RM6.45.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik and Yong Tai added half-a-sen to nine sen and 10.5 sen, respectively, DNeX bagged 2.5 sen to 95.5 sen, while Techna-X remains unchanged at 11.5 sen
On the index board, FBM ACE improved 28.88 points to 5,258.66, FBM Emas Index advanced 36.34 points to 10,989.38, FBMT 100 Index firmed 30.52 points to 10,671.0, FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 93.17 points to 11,394.95, while FBM 70 dipped 18.76 points to 12,948.08.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 78.64 points to 16,622.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.64 points higher at 195.11, and the Plantation Index climbed 145.26 points to 8,167.15.
Meanwhile, the ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar today, ahead of the first quarter (Q1) gross domestic product announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia later today, an analyst said.
At 9am, the local note stood at 4.3900/3950 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.3935/3945.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said there is a wide breadth of expectations among economists who expect the GDP to rise between 4.0 and 5.0%.
“I think anything within that band would be neutral for the ringgit but below could be negative and above could be positive. It's a wait and see on that call,” he said.
Moody’s Analytics projects that Malaysia’s economy has grown 1.1% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2022 following a 6.6% expansion in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021.
Meanwhile, OCBC Bank, had on February 11, revised upward its projection on Malaysia’s economic growth to 5.4% in 2022 from its earlier estimate of 5.0% on the back of improving private consumption in Q4 2021, and the still-supportive exports environment.
For 2022, the bank estimates that the GDP would grow between 5.5% and 6.5%, backed by continued expansion in global demand and higher private-sector expenditure.
In Q4 2021, Malaysia’s economy expanded 3.6%, bringing the full year growth to 3.1% compared to a decline of 5.6% in 2020.
The central bank is expected to announce Q1 2022 GDP at 11am.
The ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1447/1487 from 3.1488/1500 on Thursday, increased vis-à-vis the euro to 4.5564/5616 from 4.5820/5830, and strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 3.4079/4120 from 3.4145/4156.
However, the local unit eased against the British pound to 5.3584/3645 from 5.3539/3551 previously. – Bernama, May 13, 2022
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