Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher Amid Mixed Wall Street Cues
By Abdul Hamid A Rahman
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Wednesday, rebounding from the previous day’s losses, amid mixed cues from Wall Street as investors weighed the latest developments in United States–China trade tensions.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.52 points to 1,618.98 from Tuesday’s close of 1,611.46, after opening 3.61 points higher at 1,615.07.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 291 to 112, while 275 counters were unchanged, 1,994 untraded and eight suspended.
Turnover stood at 157.93 million shares worth RM109.24 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended mixed overnight after a volatile session, as sentiment was dampened by renewed trade tensions between the United States and China.
“The tension between the world’s two largest economies has now extended beyond soybeans and rare earths to global shipping charges,” he told Bernama.
He added that the US 10-year Treasury yield eased slightly to 4.03 per cent.
Back home, Thong expects the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,605–1,620 range today.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group and Public Bank gained three sen each to RM7.38 and RM4.24, respectively, while IHH Healthcare added two sen to RM8.07. Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM9.92 and RM13.20, respectively.
In active trading, ECA Integrated rose one sen to 25 sen, while Pharmaniaga and Tanco Holdings edged up half-a-sen each to 26.5 sen and 86.5 sen. TWL and Genting Malaysia were unchanged at 2.5 sen and RM2.32, respectively.
Among the top gainers were Petronas Gas, which added 54 sen to RM19.10, Allianz Malaysia, up 22 sen to RM18.40, United Plantations, which gained 14 sen to RM23.58, Hong Leong Financial, up 12 sen to RM17.02, and 99 Speedmart, which rose nine sen to RM3.12.
As for the top losers, Fraser & Neave fell 16 sen to RM27.94, Dutch Lady declined 14 sen to RM26.64, Malayan Cement and PJBumi slipped five sen each to RM6.77 and RM2.64, while Woodlandor Holdings dropped four sen to 53.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 48.81 points to 12,085.85, the FBMT 100 Index rose 52.57 points to 11,820.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 49.63 points to 12,161.11, the FBM 70 Index advanced 65.66 points to 17,088.68, and the FBM ACE Index added 31.20 points to 5,224.63.
By sector, the Financial Services Index improved 56.98 points to 18,234.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.43 of-a-point to 174.00, the Energy Index climbed 2.14 points to 791.98, and the Plantation Index rose 33.07 points to 7,862.45.
-- BERNAMA
