Bursa M'sia opens higher amid volatile trading
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today amid volatile trading against the backdrop of bearish sentiment on Wall Street which has turned increasingly fragile, dealers said.
At 9.26 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was trading at 1,838.04 points, up 1.36 points from Wednesday's close of 1,36.68.
It opened 1.02 points firmer at 1,837.70.
Gainers led losers 223 to 130, while 258 counters were unchanged, 1,247 untraded and 30 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 289.59 million shares worth RM76.38 million.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended 0.5% lower, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.1% weaker and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.9%.
Public Investment Bank Bhd said investors were cautious over the fresh rise of US Treasury yields following an auction of 10-year bonds.
Reasons for the rising trend in yields were due to fears over higher inflation and the possibility of the US Federal Reserve moving interest rates liberally this year.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd expects the FBM KLCI to be in choppy trading today amidst testing its 1,840 resistance level.
On Bursa Malaysia, among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank each gained two sen to RM10.08 and RM21.96 respectively, Tenaga was flat at RM15.84, while CIMB eased one sen to RM7.07.
Of the active counters, PDZ added one sen to nine sen, while PUC and Borneo Oil were each flat at 24 sen and 8.5 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index rose 0.91 of-a-point to 13,084.71 and the FBMT 100 Index was up 1.6 points to 12,808.21, but the FBM 70 fell 24.48 points to 16,012.09.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 7.11 points to 13,343.10, but the FBM Ace increased 45.77 points to 6,215.39.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 39.46 points higher at 17,644.02, as the Industrial Index rose 24.62 points to 3,266.79 and the Plantation Index improved 6.80 points to 7,975.07.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM160.42/g, down RM1.17 from RM161.59 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama