Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher On Bargain-hunting

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today supported by bargain-hunting activities led by utility counters, analysts said.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 5.21 points to 1,601.26 from last Friday’s close of 1,596.05.

The index opened 2.48 points stronger at 1,598.53.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 264 to 108, with 239 counters unchanged, 1,831 untraded and 22 suspended.

Turnover stood at 141.79 million units worth RM67.02 million.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although the FBM KLCI closed positively last Friday, the benchmark index was below the psychological 1,600 mark attributed to some late profit-taking activities.

“We believe recent positive newsflow particularly from Infineon and its RM30 billion additional investments in Kulim will add to the optimism surrounding the nation’s technology sector of late.

“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,595-1,610 range,” Thong said. 

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said global semiconductor company Infineon Technologies AG (Infineon) would have an additional investment of RM30.1 billion to fund Phase 2 of Infineon’s 200-millimeter silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor fabrication facility in Kulim, Kedah, which is also the world’s largest.

On Bursa Malaysia, among the heavyweights, YTL Corporation, YTL Power International and Sunway rose 6.0 sen each to RM3.30, RM4.41, and RM4.12, respectively.

Tenaga added 8.0 sen to RM14.02 while CIMB and IHH Healthcare increased 4.0 sen each to RM7.34 and RM6.26, respectively.

Active counters also saw uptrend results. Cape EMS perked up by 1.5 sen to 53.5 sen, Techna-X gained 1.0 sen to 18 sen, while OCR, Ekovest and Hubline put on half-a-sen to 7.0 sen, 41 sen and 9.0 sen, respectively. Bintai Kinden eased half-a-sen to 11.5 sen. 

The top gainers were Allianz which climbed 50 sen to RM20.90. MSM ticked up 14 sen to RM1.79, Notion Vtech improved 11 sen to RM1.81 and Aurelius Technologies was 10 sen higher at RM3.43.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index grew 44.45 points to 12,219.62, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 41.09 points to 11,848.68, the FBM 70 Index added 70.81 points to 17,779.80, the FBM ACE Index increased 33.34 points to 5,411.00 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index inched up 42.16 points to 12,370.65.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was up by 53.00 points to 18,106.83, the Energy Index was 3.93 points better at 925.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.63 of-a-point to 181.92, the Plantation Index firmed by 0.57 of-a-point to 7,074.49, and the Technology Index was higher 0.37 of-a-point to 71.52.

-- BERNAMA