Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher Taking Cue From Wall Street

By Rosemarie Khoo

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today taking the cue from the uptrend overnight Wall Street performance, said an analyst. 

At 9.07 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ticked up 0.47 of-a-point to 1,609.99 from Tuesday’s close of 1,609.52.

The index opened 2.27 points firmer at 1,611.79.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 386 to 73, with 216 counters unchanged, 1,793 untraded and nine suspended.

Turnover stood at 159.92 million units worth RM87.60 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that Wall Street surged as sentiment was buoyed by a decent Producer Price Index (PPI) data which could imply a tame Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure that is to be released later today.

He said a lower CPI would indicate rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in September.

Back home, he said, Rakuten Trade expects trading activities to improve following the uptrend on Wall Street, thus anticipating the benchmark index to hover within the 1,610 and 1,620 range today.

On Bursa Malaysia, among the heavyweights, YTL Power International, Tenaga Nasional and Sunway rose 6.0 sen each to RM4.42, RM13.96 and RM4.25.

YTL Corporation added 2.0 sen to RM3.37, while Sime Darby and Genting increased 3.0 sen each to RM2.58 and RM4.41.

Of the most actives, Cape EMS perked up by 1.5 sen to 47 sen, Dataprep and Nova MSC rose half-a-sen each to 22 sen 23 sen, Velesto was flat at 20.5, and Malayan United Industries eased half-a-sen to 9.0 sen. 

Top gainers, Malaysia Pacific Industries gained 64 sen to RM37.20, KESM edged up 35 sen to RM6.29 and United Plantations gained 28 sen to RM25.68. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 30.14 points to 12,274.89, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 22.93 points to 11,907.03, and the FBM 70 Index jumped 105.97 points to 17,864.56.

The FBM ACE Index bagged 35.39 points to 5,424.12 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index inched up 41.65 points to 12,414.71.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was down by 7.02 points to 18,205.61, the Energy Index was 4.46 points better at 928.34, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.91 of-a-point to 182.43, the Plantation Index slipped by 7.26 points to 7,118.62, and the Technology Index was higher by 0.86 of-a-point to 72.05.

-- BERNAMA