Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher On Robust US Stock Market

By Rosemarie Khoo

 KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today on the back of robust US stock performance overnight, said an analyst. 

At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 2.13 points to 1,638.67 against Monday’s close of 1,636.54.

The benchmark index opened 2.02 points firmer at 1,638.56.

The market breadth, however, was almost flat, with 132 gainers outpacing 130 decliners while 243 counters remained unchanged, 1,972 were untraded, and nine were suspended.

Turnover stood at 137.68 million units, valued at RM81.41 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed broadly higher as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 charted record highs ahead of the latest batch of corporate results, ignoring the higher US 10-year Treasury yield, which touched 4.09 per cent.

Back home, the FBM KLCI managed to close higher on Monday amid another lacklustre session as sentiment stayed cautious.

He said the daily volume traded was disappointing at just above the two billion shares level as retail investors were mostly sidelined.

“We expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,635-1,645 range today,” he told Bernama. 

Among the heavyweights, Hong Leong Bank rose 2.0 sen to RM21.30, Petronas Chemicals increased 3.0 sen to RM5.65, while MR DIY, Axiata and Sime Darby gained 1.0 sen each to RM2.17, RM2.41 and RM2.47, respectively. 

As for the active counters, Northeast Group and Datasonic each advanced 1.5 sen to 51.5 sen and 44.5 sen, respectively, while 99 Speed Mart Retail surged 5.0 sen to RM2.51. Pertama Digital, however, eased half-a-sen to 29.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index grew 8.74 points to 12,298.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 5.83 points to 12,207.73, and the FBMT 100 Index rose by 9.83 points to 11,999.55.

The FBM 70 Index, however, was 7.01 points lower at 17,562.31, but the FBM ACE Index gained 11.70 points to 5,100.81.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose by 39.11 points to 19,298.28. The Plantation Index marginally slid by 0.20 of-a-point to 7,216.48, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.01 of-a-point to 175.22, and the Energy Index slipped 7.51 points to 870.56.

-- BERNAMA