Bursa Malaysia Higher In Early Trade, Tracking Wall St Rise

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia climbed higher in early trade on Monday, tracking the rally on Wall Street last Friday.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.95 points to 1,596.24 from Friday’s close of 1,594.29.  The index opened 2.55 points higher at 1,596.84.

However, decliners led gainers 160 to 151 while 304 counters were unchanged, 1,800 untraded and 15 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 144.99 million units valued at RM58.89 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse is expected to stabilise as the third-quarter corporate results have been reported without any major negative surprises. As a result, he believes buyers will return if the index drops below the 1,590 level. “Therefore, the market index is expected to stay within the 1,595-1,610 range today, mainly supported by the performance of plantation stocks due to the strong price of crude palm oil (CPO),” he told Bernama.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd (HLIB) said the FBM KLCI is expected to continue its consolidation phase amid the outflow of foreign funds. Additionally, factors such as geopolitical tensions, uncertainty surrounding US rate cuts, China's sluggish growth and a Trump 2.0 administration could further heighten market volatility.

“However, a technical rebound is anticipated in December, with resistance levels at 1,607, 1,625, and 1,648, and support levels at 1,577 and 1,588. This comes after a significant oversold condition ( minus 90 points from the 52-week high of 1,684) and the likely impact of ‘window dressing’, which has historically shown a 90 per cent success rate over the past 10-20 years, yielding positive returns of 1.5  to 1.8 per cent,” HLIB said in a note today.

Heavyweight Maybank was flat at RM10.20, CIMB added one sen to RM8.26 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.49. Tenaga Nasional erased four sen to RM13.62 while IHH and Hong Leong Bank dropped six sen each to RM7.20 and RM20.62, respectively.

Among the active stocks, Ta Win and PDZ eased half-a-sen each to two sen and four sen, respectively, while Capital A dipped one sen to 99 sen. Yew Lee was flat at 46 sen and Mestron added one sen to 31 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index regained 14.23 points to 12,145.36, the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 13.47 points to 11,837.26 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 21.81 points to 12,056.50.

The FBM 70 Index gained 16.59 points to 17,876.41 but the FBM ACE Index fell 10.16 points to 5,121.49.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 5.50 points to 19,184.53 while the Energy Index added 1.09 points to 813.38 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.68 of-a-point to 170.97.

The Plantation Index rose 39.38 points to 7,571.20.

-- BERNAMA