KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday, with the benchmark index breaching the 1,530 level after three days of choppy trading, supported by optimism over US-China trade talks and improved domestic sentiment following recent policy announcements.
At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.48 points to 1,531.27, from Wednesday’s close of 1,529.79.
The index opened 1.26 points firmer at 1,531.05.
Turnover totalled 174.73 million shares worth RM85.33 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed near the 1,530 level on Wednesday, supported by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s positive announcements for all Malaysians.
“This is certainly a surprising feel-good factor, possibly intended to ease the Sales and Services Tax burden going forward. Whether this momentum is sustainable remains to be seen, but we expect the index to trade within the 1,530–1,540 range today,” he told Bernama.
On the global front, Thong said Wall Street ended broadly higher as confidence grew over the latest progress in trade talks.
Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.384 per cent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index surged to a three-and-a-half-year high, fuelled by optimism that fresh US-China trade talks are progressing positively, following the recently concluded US-Japan agreement.
Among heavyweight counters, Maybank, 99 SpeedMart and SD Guthrie each added three sen to RM9.62, RM2.37 and RM4.78, respectively. PPB rose 17 sen to RM9.47, while Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM3.39.
Top gainers were led by Nestle, which jumped 60 sen to RM77.50. United Plantations added 20 sen to RM22.00, Hong Leong Industries rose six sen to RM15.96, and Unisem gained five sen to RM2.26.
Active counters were led by NexG and TWL, which were unchanged at 52 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively. Sunzen Warrant added half a sen to 10 sen, TT Vision advanced 3.5 sen to 60 sen, while SFP Technologies and Notion Vtec each gained one sen to 20.5 sen and 60.5 sen, respectively.
On the broader index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 13.47 points to 11,508.02, the FBMT 100 Index gained 11.75 points to 11,265.91, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 11.34 points to 11,527.82.
The FBM 70 Index was up 21.17 points at 16,665.26, while the FBM ACE Index added 2.25 points to 4,667.30.
By sector, the Financial Services Index increased 27.47 points to 17,457.72, the Energy Index dipped 0.92 of a point to 742.26, the Plantation Index rose 16.49 points to 7,427.93, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.04 of a point to 155.47. - Bernama
