Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher On Bargain Hunting

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Bargain hunting lifted Bursa Malaysia to open higher on Thursday after the previous day's loss, ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia’s monetary policy committee announcement later today. 

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.09 points to 1,673.33, up from Wednesday's close of 1,670.24. The key index opened 0.31 of-a-point higher at 1,670.55.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 150 to 126, with 239 counters unchanged, 1,940 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 122.28 million units valued at RM84.87 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street ended mixed overnight ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report tomorrow. The Dow Jones staged a mild recovery, adding 38 points, while the Nasdaq managed to trim its losses, declining 52 points at the close yesterday, with market players continuing to bet on a larger rate cut during the upcoming US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting.

"Back home, we noticed some bargain-hunting activities on blue chips as the index seems to be well supported at current levels. Therefore, we expect the index to hover within the 1,670-1,680 range today," he said.

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank was flat at RM10.80, Public Bank bagged two sen to RM4.78 and CIMB jumped 11 sen to RM8.32. Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare added six sen to RM14.96 and RM6.45, respectively.

Among active counters, newly-listed Steel Hawk is leading the list, surging 130 per cent, or 19.5 sen, to 34.5 sen. TWL added half-a-sen to 3.0 sen, YTL Power tumbled 21 sen to RM3.68, YTL dipped 13 sen to RM2.87 and Hextar Capital ticked up 1.5 sen to 41 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index garnered 22.47 points to 12,451.23, the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 26.58 points to 12,251.52 and the FBMT 100 Index put on 21.99 points to 12,150.38. 

The FBM 70 Index advanced 29.71 points to 17,400.00 while the FBM ACE Index shaved 0.56 of-a-point to 5,157.37.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened by 85.35 points to 19,728.50, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.86 point to 178.93, the Energy Index ticked up 0.34 of-a-point to 898.06 while the Plantation Index added 11.74 points to 7,263.58.

-- BERNAMA