By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia recovered on Friday morning with the key index returning to the 1,600 level, taking a cue from Wall Street’s upbeat performance overnight due to lower-than-expected weekly jobless claims data in the United States, a dealer said.
The dealer said the jobless claims data totalled a seasonally adjusted 233,000 for the week ended on Aug 3, a decline of 17,000 and lower than the Dow Jones estimate of 240,000, allaying fears of the creeping US unemployment rate and recessionary concerns.
At 9.08 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recouped 9.84 points or 0.61 per cent to 1,600.22 from Thursday’s close of 1,590.38.
The index opened 10.78 points stronger at 1,601.16.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 551 to 59, with 168 counters unchanged, 1,664 untraded and 22 suspended.
Turnover stood at 264.19 million units worth RM137.57 million.
On Wall Street’s performance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) jumped 683 points while the Nasdaq added 464 points with the US 10-year yield ending higher at 3.989 per cent.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said attention may now shift to next Wednesday’s consumer price index (CPI) data.
“Despite the upturn on Wall Street, we expect sentiment on the local bourse to remain cautious ahead of the weekend,” he told Bernama.
Hence, he anticipates the index to hover within the 1,590-1,600 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional climbed four sen to RM10.18 and RM14.04, respectively, Public Bank added two sen to RM4,24, CIMB rose six sen to RM7.36 and IHH Healthcare was unchanged at RM6.19.
Active counters also saw uptrend results with Cape EMS and KGW firmed by two sen to 49.5 sen and 27 sen, respectively. ATA IMS inched up five sen to 43.5 sen, Nova MSC ticked up 1.5 sen to 20 sen and Siab Holdings better one sen to 14.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index surged 110.82 points to 12,181.48, the FBMT 100 Index shrank 100.38 points to 11,822.36, the FBM 70 Index jumped by 252.36 points to 17,691.89, the FBM ACE Index increased 116.54 points to 5,315.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index inched up 123.21 points to 12,312.95.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was up by 87.82 points to 18,107.43, the Energy Index recovered 11.25 points to 921.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.21 points to 180.24, the Plantation Index firmed by 14.09 points to 7,051.73, and the Technology Index was weaker 1.56 points to 70.40.
-- BERNAMA
