By Siti Noor Afera Abu
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking overnight Wall Street's upbeat performance, said an analyst.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.63 points to 1,601.59 from Tuesday's close of 1,597.96. The benchmark index opened 1.64 points firmer at 1,599.60.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 297 to 119, with 334 counters unchanged, 1,655 untraded and nine suspended.
Turnover stood at 291.86 million units worth RM166.90 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched another record high despite the Federal Reserve reiterating that it is not ready to cut rates as yet until inflation sustains its slide towards two per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 162 points while the Nasdaq jumped by 149 points with the US 10-year yield easing slightly to 4.436 per cent.
Back home, Thong noticed the presence of buyers and improved trading volume which breached the five billion shares level.
“Today, we expect the index to possibly trend within the 1,600-1,610 range as bargain-hunting activities are anticipated to persist,” he told Bernama.
Bursa heavyweight stocks Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM9.99 and RM14.0, respectively. Public Bank and IHH Healthcare rose one sen each to RM4.05 and RM6.31, respectively, while CIMB added three sen to RM6.91.
Among the most active counters, ACE-debutant Go Hub gained 44.5 sen to 79.5 sen, WCT increased three sen to 92 sen, while Velesto and Reservoir went up half-a-sen each to 28 sen and 36 sen, respectively.
UUE Holdings was half-a-sen weaker at 69 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index perked up 39.16 points to 12,351.90, the FBMT 100 Index increased 37.71 points to 11,922.03 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 42.95 points to 12,692.12.
The FBM 70 Index garnered 96.70 points to 18,171.43 and the FBM ACE Index gained 11.20 points to 5,897.22.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 31.05 points to 17,577.23 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.62 of-a-point to 197.76. The Energy Index climbed 4.72 points to 984.85 and the Plantation Index bagged 9.64 points to 6,995.51.
-- BERNAMA
