BURSA MALAYSIA EXTENDS UPTREND AT OPENING

KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia, which hit a three-year high at the close yesterday, continued its uptrend at today’s opening, aided by sustained buying interest and and a positive performance on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.19 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 0.20 of-a-point to 1,630.02 from Monday's close of 1,629.82.

The index opened 1.91 points higher at 1,631.73.  

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 294 to 276, with 376 counters unchanged, 1,503 untraded and six suspended.

Turnover totalled 466.55 million units worth RM210.97 million.

Hong Leong Investment Bank said the bulls still have the upper hand to surpass the three-year high of 1,632, before advancing towards the 1,660-1,676 zones.

"Given September’s US rate-cut optimism, the return of foreign investors due to policy reforms, rising foreign direct investments, and infrastructure build-up, coupled with exuberance in investment themes, the FBM KLCI is poised to break above the short-term barrier at 1,632, before revisiting higher resistances at the 1,660-1,676 zones,” the bank said in a research note today.

Among the heavyweights, TNB gained two sen to RM14.50, while Public Bank, CIMB, and IHH Healthcare added one sen each to RM4.14, RM7.19, and RM6.35, respectively. Petronas Chemicals remained flat at RM6.06, while Maybank and Press Metal both eased two sen to RM10.12 and RM6.01.

Among the most active counters, Bintai Kinden and Velesto increased by one sen each to 12.5 sen and 24 sen, MLabs rose 3.5 sen to 24 sen, WCT advanced eight sen to RM1.19, Ekovest edged up half-a-sen to 52 sen, JAKS remained flat at 17.5 sen, Harvest eased one sen to 8.5 sen and Ahmad Zaki Resources inched down half-a-sen to 34.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 3.54 points to 12,636.35, the FBMT 100 Index added 4.66 points to 12,205.94, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved by 7.41 points to 13,017.99, the FBM 70 Index gained 18.73 points to 18,868.67 and the FBM ACE Index depreciated by 16.06 points to 6,006.67.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded by 4.22 points to 17,944.49, the Plantation Index earned 12.10 points to 6,975.73, the Energy Index recovered 2.88 points to 973.95, but the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped by 0.03 points to 201.63.

-- BERNAMA