KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher amid a steady recovery tone in the country coupled with an elevated commodity market environment.
At 9.06am, the benchmark index was 5.15 points better at 1,611.12 from Monday's close of 1,605.97.
The bellwether index opened 5.86 points firmer at 1,611.83.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 288 to 167, while 333 counters were unchanged, 1,495 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 248.05 million units worth RM147.61 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investor sentiment remained upbeat, particularly in recovery theme stocks, while the transportation and logistics counters staged a pullback in tandem with the declining Baltic Dry Index that has fallen for eight straight sessions.
It said investors or traders may position themselves ahead of Budget 2022 end of this month.
Meanwhile, the crude palm oil (CPO) and crude oil prices both climbed, with the latter hovering above the US$85 per barrel level.
“We opine that the local bourse may point higher, tracking with the overnight gains on Wall Street.
The building material segment may gain traction on the back of increasing demand amid economic recovery, in line with other recovery theme stocks such as banking and consumer, while construction and property sectors could be lifted ahead of Budget 2022.
“Besides, the oil and gas counters should remain under the limelight,” it said in its Market Pulse note today.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB bagged three sen each to RM8.34 and RM5.33, respectively, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.24, Petronas Chemicals rose seven sen to RM8.82, IHH jumped 15 sen to RM6.81, and Tenaga increased five sen to RM9.87.
Among the actives, AirAsia X was flat at 9.5 sen while Tanco declined half-a-sen to 25 sen and MMC Corp eased one sen to RM1.96.
Top gainers, Genetec leapt 60 sen to RM45.98, while Aeon Credit Service and Petronas Gas climbed 22 sen each to RM13.80 and RM17.18, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 36.68 points to 11,851.05, the FBMT 100 Index gained 36.77 points to 11,491.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 38.56 points to 12,932.22, the FBM 70 ticked up 49.93 points to 15,553.21, and the FBM ACE firmed 42.66 points to 7,224.78.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 51.0 points to 15,896.29, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.65 of-a-point to 214.06, and the Plantation Index climbed 14.03 points to 7,057.25.
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries was closed yesterday for the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebration. – Bernama, October 20, 2021
