Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher Tracking Wall Street Rally After Softer US CPI

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, mirroring Wall Street’s overnight rally after the latest US consumer price index figure came in slightly below expectations, thus paving the way for a possible Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

The US recorded a softer inflation rate of 2.7 per cent in July, below consensus estimates for headline CPI at 2.8 per cent and core CPI at 3.0 per cent for July.

At 9.17 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.30 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 1,570.20 from yesterday’s close of 1,567.90.

The benchmark index had earlier opened 1.17 points firmer at 1,569.07.

Market breadth was positive, with advancers leading gainers 286 to 107. A total of 269 counters were unchanged, 1,860 untraded and 18 suspended.

Turnover stood at 298.39 million shares worth RM112.24 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said overall trading remained lacklustre as traders were mostly side-lined ahead of more economic data and corporate earnings.

“Back home, the FBM KLCI closed firmer but off the day’s high, possibly due to profit-taking activities.

“Despite the 30 points gain over the past five days, we regard the local bourse’s valuation remains reasonable, hence expect more legs for the index towards the 1,600 level,” he told Bernama. 

For today, he expects the index to trend within the 1,565-1,580 range.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 2.0 sen to RM9.73, CIMB perked up 6.0 sen to RM7.07, Public Bank eased 1.0 sen to RM4.39, while Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM13.58 and RM6.82 respectively.   

On the actively traded list, NexG was 1.0 sen better at 41 sen, Efficient E-Solutions gained 1.5 sen to 12.5 sen, Lotte Chemical Titan increased 2.5 sen to 56.5 sen, while Classita and TWL were flat at 9.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively. 

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index expanded 28.13 points to 11,703.63, the FBMT 100 Index widened by 26.42 points to 11,482.60, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 21.64 points to 11,687.02, the FBM ACE Index picked up 3.07 points to 4,641.21 and the FBM Mid 70 Index jumped 80.44 points to 16,681.08.

By sector, the Financial Services Index appreciated 62.95 points to 17,877.60, the Plantation Index bagged 16.16 points to 7,547.97, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.17 of a point to 160.23, and the Energy Index strengthened by 1.18 points to 739.56.

-- BERNAMA