KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened on a good note this morning, driven by renewed buying in selected heavyweights, amidst positive performance among regional peers.
At 9.44 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.77 points to 1,403.00 from 1,396.23 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 3.30 points better at 1,399.53.
The broader market was also positive as advancers beat decliners 356 to 185, while 315 counters were unchanged, 1,401 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 801.82 million units worth RM279.81 million.
In a note today, Malacca Securities said it expects a further recovery to be in store for the local market today as foreign funds have turned into net buyers for the past two days.
“At the same time, the lower liners may continue to build on their recovery momentum, taking advantage of the positive market sentiment.
“With inflationary pressure cooling off in the United States, upward movements could sustain over the near term,” the brokerage said, adding that it continues to favour the technology sector on the back of the extended uptrend momentum on the Nasdaq overnight.
It noted that the energy sector will be boosted by rising crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia pledged to extend its voluntary oil output cut of one million barrels per day (bpd) to August, while Russia will cut exports by 500,000 bpd.
“Meanwhile, firmer crude palm oil (CPO) prices, tracking the gains in soybean oil and recovery in demand from India should boost the plantation sector,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional added 3.0 sen each to RM8.76, RM3.95 and RM9.13, respectively, and CIMB jumped 7.0 sen to RM5.27, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.77.
Of the actives, Calssita added 2.0 sen to 16 sen, KNM Group improved 1.0 sen to 9.0 sen, Widad Group earned half-a-sen to 42.5 sen, and Naim Holdings gained 6.0 sen to 90.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 49.99 points to 10,352.22, the FBMT 100 Index was 50.11 points better at 10,039.37, the FBM ACE Index advanced 51.33 points to 5,263.85, the FBM 70 Index improved 75.38 points to 13,680.35, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 36.15 points to 10,620.08.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 104.53 points to 15,649.69, the Plantation Index grew 2.52 points to 6,898.19 and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.22 of-a-point to 161.29, while the Energy Index rose 8.66 points to 819.84. – Bernama, July 14, 2023
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