KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher, taking its cue from the stronger Wall Street performance overnight.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI inched up 0.90 of a point to 1,458.55 from yesterday’s close of 1,457.65
The index opened 1.01 points firmer at 1,458.66.
On the broader market, gainers edged past decliners 162 to 145, while 220 counters were unchanged, 1,708 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 179.01 million units worth RM85.88 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, expects bargain hunting to emerge today after the recent selldown and expects the benchmark index to stage a rebound today within the 1,460-1,475 range.
“Buying interests may return to telecommunication stocks after a strong selldown yesterday,” he said.
Another dealer said market participants were also waiting for the revised Budget 2023 to be tabled later today.
Meanwhile, Bursa heavyweights Maybank gained two sen to RM8.71, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM4.13 and RM7.81, respectively.
Digi was flat at RM4.27, while CIMB and IHH Healthcare fell one sen to RM5.46 and RM5.88, respectively.
As for the active counters, Hong Seng Consolidated and Vinvest inched up half-a-sen each to 15.5 sen and 23.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange increased 1.5 sen to 66 sen, Velesto rose 1.0 sen to 25 sen, and MTAG dipped 16.5 sen to 44 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index perked 15.41 points to 10,629.09, the FBMT 100 Index went up 14.34 points to 10,300.80; the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 29.43 points to 10,961.15; the FBM ACE Index was up 9.45 points to 5,568.62, and the FBM 70 Index climbed 53.01 points to 13,468.69.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 5.41 points to 6,811.77, the Energy Index improved by 2.12 points to 866.56, the Industrial Products and Services Index grew 0.24 of-a-point to 184.54, and the Financial Services Index climbed 20.90 points to 15,989.97. – Bernama, February 24, 2023
