KL shares open higher on bargain-hunting

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia recovered from yesterday's losses to open higher today, on bargain-hunting activities as traders took the opportunity to accumulate quality stocks at a cheaper price.
At 9 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 8.52 points better at 1,824.46 from Wednesday's 1,815.94.
Market breadth was positive with 201 gainers against 70 losers, while 176 counters were unchanged, 1,424 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Volume stood at 64.96 million units valued at RM21.63 million.
A dealer said the FBM KLCI's recovery was in line with regional stocks, which bounced from a two-month low, as US-China trade war fears began to ease after the former expressed a willingness to negotiate.
Kenanga Research said the technical outlook for the index was now outright bearish as it had broken below its crucial support of 1,840.
"From here, expect the FBM KLCI to potentially free fall towards support at 1,800. Conversely, should a positive turnaround occur, look towards support-turned-resistance at 1,840 and crucial resistance of 1,880 further up," it said in a note.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM10.40, Public Bank was flat at RM23.90 and Tenaga added two sen to RM15.72.
For actives, SKH and Nexgram were unchanged at 7.5 sen and five sen respectively, while PUC increased one sen to 25 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was flat at 12,612.37, the FBMT 100 Index was 79.46 points better at 12,539.04 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was unchanged at 13,733.92.
The FBM 70 jumped 166.64 points to 15,083.87 and the FBM Ace was flat at 4,883.83.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 74.92 points to 18,786.23, the Industrial Index was 7.28 points higher at 3,198.6 and the Plantation Index was higher by 9.73 points to 7,911.09.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were untraded this morning on a lack of buying interest.
Spot month April 2018 stood at RM168.0, while May 2018, June 2018 and July 2018 all remained at RM168.3 a gramme.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 60 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was RM1.34 sen lower at RM160.09 a gramme from RM161.3 a gramme yesterday. — Bernama