Bursa Malaysia opens easier but strengthens thereafter

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened easier but recovered momentum as buying interest emerged aided by the positive performance of its Asian peers.
Positive economic news was generally supportive of global growth, dealers said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.07 points higher at 1,765.07 from Friday's close of 1,764.
The index opened 0.35 of a point easier at 1,763.65. On the broader market, gainers led losers by 150 to 90, with 188 counters unchanged, 1,424 untraded and 21 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 225.67 million shares worth RM53.79 million.
Alliance DBS Research said the market closed higher on Friday with the benchmark index reaching the day's high of 1,764 on last-minute buying of selective blue chip stocks.
"The overall market action on last Friday revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure.

"As such, FBM KLCI will likely trade above the 1,764 level today," it said.
Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank said the FBM KLCI would likely rebound further with the emergence of buying support last week with construction, also, with the recent headlines suggesting Light Rail Transit (LRT) 3 contracts are being dished out, construction-related stocks could trade actively in the near-term.
Of heavyweights, TNB added four sen to RM14.30, Public Bank increased two sen to RM20.58, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM7.36, while Maybank and Sime Darby were flat at RM9.54 and RM9.12, respectively.
Among active counters, Hubline, Vivocom and Vizione edged up half-a-sen each to 12 sen, 13.5 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively, Dutaland improved two sen to 68 sen and KNM group added 1.5 sen to 28 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gained 2.65 points to 12,600.29, FBMT 100 Index up 1.81 points at 12,251.26, FBM 70 increased 3.07 points to 15,141.06, FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 4.55 points to 12,859.22 and the FBM Ace expanded 52.35 points to 6,718.13.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 2.08 points to 16,577.61, the Industrial Index inched up 1.1 points to 3,216.18 and the Plantation Index rose 20.10 points to 7,941.33.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM168.40 per gramme, up 33 sen from RM168.07 at 5.00pm last Friday. — Bernama