Bursa Malaysia Opens At Fresh High On Buying In Financial Services Stocks

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia surpassed 1,660 level in early trade, with the benchmark index gaining 0.79 per cent, opening at a fresh 44-month high today, bolstered by continued buying in financial services counters.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (KLCI) rose 13.17 points to 1,665.46 from Tuesday's close of 1,652.29. The local market bucked the weaker regional trend on Wednesday morning amid modest gains on Wall Street overnight.

The index broke the previous 44-month high recorded on Dec 14, 2020 where it closed at 1,662.74.

The index opened 5.48 points higher at 1,657.77.

The broader market was positive as gainers led losers by 183 to 178, with 217 counters unchanged, 1,938 untraded, and 42 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 136.53 million units valued at RM121.54 million.

Wall Street ended marginally higher amid a choppy session as traders await the announcement of Nvidia’s earnings, to be released later today.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said local sentiments are getting better with improving corporate earnings, strong economy, more construction contracts especially on data centres, and an appreciation of the ringgit.

“All these factors are driving the market to trade higher. We believe the accumulation of blue chips will persist although the broader market sentiment may be somewhat lacklustre due to the lack of retail participation,” he told Bernama.

He reckoned the recent influx of initial public offerings which topped RM2 billion raised for the first half of 2024 may be one of the main reasons for the low interest in small caps.

“Therefore, we expect the index to oscillate between the 1,645-1,655 range today as we enter into the fervour of earnings season for the third quarter of 2024,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank jumped 10 sen to RM10.80, Public Bank advanced six sen to RM4.74, CIMB increased 20 sen to RM8.13, and Tenaga rose 16 sen to RM14.08. IHH eased two sen to RM6.28.

As for the actives, Vetece advanced 22 sen to 47 sen, Velesto went up half-a-sen to 21.5 sen, while Notion erased 3.5 sen to 85.5 sen, Securemetric fell 2.5 sen to 21.5 sen, and Tanco decreased one sen to RM1.03.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 69.09 points to 12,489.83, the FBMT 100 Index rose 73.71 points to 12,184.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 33.88 points to 12,358.98.

The FBM 70 Index increased by 23.25 points to 17,790.24, while the FBM ACE Index dipped 13.61 points to 5,176.33.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index garnered 33.08 points to 7,247.74, while the Energy Index declined 2.16 points to 944.72, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.12 of-a-point to 183.41, and the Financial Services Index surged 194.67 points to 19,473.52.

-- BERNAMA