Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher, Tracking Upbeat Wall Street

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia moved higher in early trade today, tracking the upbeat performance on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 4.94 points to 1,600.42 from Monday’s close of 1,595.48. 

The index opened 3.84 points higher at 1,599.32.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 152 to 96 while 283 counters were unchanged, 1,884 untraded, and 15 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 130.74 million units valued at RM72.94 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said during trading yesterday, the FBM KLCI's brief rebound above 1,600 was short-lived as selling by foreign funds emerged in the afternoon.

“As a result, we believe that any window dressing activities are unlikely to have an immediate impact and expect the index to remain in its consolidation phase, to trend at the 1,595-1,605 range today,” he told Bernama.

He said Wall Street maintained its uptrend despite some profit-taking, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ending at record highs while liquidity continued to play a pivotal role, making small caps clear winners ahead of the proposed tax cuts from President-elect Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield closed higher at 4.196 per cent, Thong added.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects buying interest to spill over into the local bourse following the positive performance in the US markets.

“In particular, export-oriented stocks stand to benefit from the strengthening US dollar, plantation stocks driven by strong earnings and momentum in crude palm oil prices, and the entertainment and aviation sectors, such as Genting and AirAsia, from the approaching holiday season,” it said in a note.

Additionally, it is also optimistic about consumer stocks due to their defensive qualities and solid earnings seen in recent quarterly results.

Heavyweights Maybank improved six sen to RM10.14, CIMB added three sen to RM8.24, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional gained two sen each to RM4.49 and RM13.50 respectively. IHH was flat at RM7.20.

Among the active stocks, Zen Tech and Velesto were flat at one sen and 15.5 sen respectively, Sapura Energy and Malayan United eased half-a-sen to 3.5 sen and 6.5 sen respectively, and Northeast fell 3.5 sen to 63.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index garnered 35.06 points to 12,183.09, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 35.01 points to 11,873.10 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 35.25 points to 12,145.53.

The FBM 70 Index gained 46.77 points to 17,948.22 and the FBM ACE Index added 13.68 points to 5,136.35.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 52.75 points to 19,099.37, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.90 of-a-point to 174.47, the Plantation Index ticked up 2.83 points to 7,674.39, while the Energy Index erased 0.75 of-a-point to 807.86.

-- BERNAMA