KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed its recent losses to open higher on Monday, tracking Wall Street’s rally overnight amidst improving investor confidence, said an analyst.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved by 8.87 points to 1,459.22 from 1,450.35 at Friday’s close.
The key index opened 0.72 points higher at 1,451.07.
The broader market was positive as gainers led losers 241 to 129, while 286 counters were unchanged, 1,648 untraded and 53 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 365.66 million units worth RM112.85 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed broadly higher last Friday as the United States (US) personal consumption expenditure index came in within expectations, indicating that the US’ inflation is easing.
The Dow Jones Index Average gained 176 points while the Nasdaq jumped by 266 points as the US 10-year yield eased below the four per cent mark to 3.95 per cent.
As for the FBM KLCI, he said the index is in good stead with the expected continuous accumulation of blue chips.
“As such, we expect the index to hover within the 1,445-1,455 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added five sen to RM9.04 and Petronas Chemicals rose seven sen to RM6.92, while both IHH Healthcare and Sime Darby increased six sen each to RM5.95 and RM4.61, respectively.
Of the actives, Hong Seng and Tanco were flat at 7.5 sen and 56 sen, respectively, while Sarawak Consolidated, Leform and Vinvest bagged half-a-sen each to 44 sen, 22 sen and 7.56 sen, respectively,
On the index board, the FBM 70 Index perked 62.43 points to 13,997.76, the FBM Emas Index went up 49.47 points to 10,702.40, the FBMT 100 Index rose 50.98 points to 10,392.16 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 56.74 points to 10,961.94, while the FBM ACE Index edged down 3.76 points to 5,317.57.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index garnered 60.68 points to 7,210.79, the Financial Services Index earned 55.30 points to 16,235.11, the Industrial Products and Services Index widened 0.65 of-a-point to 168.16, and the Energy Index inched up 0.07 of-a-point to 832.77. - Bernama
