Bursa Malaysia Opens Marginally Higher

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today, taking a cue from Wall Street’s positive performance prior to Christmas break, said an analyst.  

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.70 of-a-point to 1,603.69 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,602.99. The benchmark index opened marginally higher by 0.59 of-a-point at 1,603.58.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday in conjunction with Christmas Day.

The broader market was positive, with gainers outpacing decliners 140 to 102, while 283 counters remained unchanged, 1,897 were untraded, and 17 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 190.31 million units valued at RM54.75 million.  

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said US equities managed to conjure up a mini rally as all three major indices ended positively ahead of the Christmas break.

On the home front, he observed that the FBM KLCI is in need of a major dose of liquidity despite signs of bargain-hunting activities.

“Hopefully, the buying momentum will gather pace and carry the index higher into 2025. Hence, we expect the benchmark index to hover within 1,600-1,610 today,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM10.06, and Public Bank lost four sen to RM4.51. However, CIMB and IHH Healthcare both added one sen to RM7.98 and RM7.09, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional was unchanged at RM14.08.

For active stocks, Zen Tech rose half-a-sen to one sen, Winstar Capital put on one sen to 65 sen, and PUC was flat at 4.5 sen. Aimflex fell half-a-sen to 14.5 sen, and Life Water dropped two sen to 91 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index earned 10 points to 12,292.88, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 24.44 points to 12,262.10, and the FBMT 100 Index added 9.26 points to 11,978.61.

The FBM 70 Index advanced 29.07 points to 18,404.34 but the FBM ACE Index edged down 0.55 of-a-point to 5,281.01

By sector, the Financial Services Index slipped 39.62 points to 18,844.11, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.95 of-a-point to 171.33, the Energy Index decreased 0.94 of-a-point to 814.12 and the Plantation Index picked up 6.21 points to 7,514.89.  

-- BERNAMA