Bursa Malaysia Opens Flat, Edges Higher In Early Trade
By Anas Abu Hassan
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened almost flat on Tuesday and edged slightly higher in the early session amid renewed optimism, tracking Wall Street's overnight rally.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.59 points to 1,620.37 compared with Monday’s close of 1,618.78. The benchmark index opened 0.76 of a point higher at 1,619.54.
Market breadth was positive, with 236 gainers outpacing 114 decliners, while 219 counters were unchanged, 2,240 untraded and 40 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.16 million shares valued at RM68.77 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse is expected to see continuous buying on selected heavyweights today, taking the cue from Wall Street's overnight rally with strong buying on technology stocks.
"We expect buying on blue chips to continue and anticipate the benchmark index to trade within the 1,615–1,625 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added one sen to RM9.97 and RM4.31, respectively. CIMB gained four sen to RM7.51, Tenaga Nasional rose six sen to RM13.10, while IHH was flat at RM8.08.
On the most active list, ACE Market debutante Polymer Link increased one sen to 26 sen, TWL was unchanged at 2.5 sen, YTL Corp put on two sen to RM2.33, NextGreen rose one sen to 80 sen, while BermazAuto eased one sen to 50.5 sen.
Top gainers included MPI, which rose 72 sen to RM32.38, Nestle up 70 sen to RM112.70, KL Kepong added 26 sen to RM20.98, Petronas Dagangan edged up 22 sen to RM21.22, and Hong Leong Industries climbed 18 sen to RM14.60.
Among the top losers, Hong Leong Bank lost 54 sen to RM21.68, United Plantation fell 36 sen to RM28, Malayan Cement eased 25 sen to RM6.40, Petronas Gas declined 20 sen to RM18.20, and F&N slipped 14 sen to RM33.30
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 11.86 points to 12,031.37, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 17.76 points to 12,013.58, and the FBMT 100 Index advanced 8.04 points to 11,802.06.
The FBM ACE Index rose 5.88 points to 4,908.76, while the FBM Mid 70 Index went down 3.95 points to 16,937.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 22.40 points to 18,514.52, the Plantation Index gained 20.01 points to 8,237.58, the Energy Index added 0.07 of-a-point to 757.40, and the Industrial Products & Services Index eased 0.06 of-a-point to 163.59.
-- BERNAMA
