KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia strengthened at the opening today, boosted by the positive performance of Wall Street on last Friday, said a dealer.
At 9.25am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 17.01 points to 1,686.79 from Friday’s close of 1,669.78.
The index opened 5.14 points higher at 1,674.92.
JF Apex Research said the FBM KLCI is expected to stage a rebound with its resistance level at 1,710 points today, following the positive performance of markets in US and Europe.
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded more than 700 points or 3.3% on last Friday following the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell’s comment that the central bank would be patient in raising interest rates, coupled with a favourable jobs report.
“Similarly, European markets closed higher, boosted by news that China and the US would hold trade talks on Jan 7-8,“ it said in a note today.
The Fed has forecast two interest rate hikes for this year.
Bursa Malaysia’s market breadth was positive, as gainers trounced losers 380 to 77, while 184 counters were unchanged, 1,224 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Trading was active with turnover at 442.25 million shares worth RM177.85 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM9.47, Public Bank and TNB both advanced 20 sen to RM24.86 and RM13.66 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals bagged one sen to RM9.27.
CIMB and IHH Healthcare gained six sen each to RM5.69 and RM5.50 respectively.
Of actives, Ace market debutant DPI Holdings increased four sen to 29 sen, KNM and Hubline edged up half-a-sen each to eight sen and five sen, Hibiscus Petroleum went up 4.5 sen to 94 sen, while Bumi Armada and Sapura Energy were flat at 15.5 sen and 29 sen.
The FBM Emas Index soared 121.51 points to 11,534.53, the FBMT 100 Index improved 118.23 points to 11,441.57 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 124.89 points to 11,481.80.
The FBM Ace Index was 60.72 points higher at 4,355.15, while the FBM 70 bagged 148.01 points to 13,171.81.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 163.08 points to 17,404.87, the Plantation Index improved 73.87 points to 6,954.77 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.06 points to 166.69.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM164.96 per gramme, down RM1.19 from RM166.15 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama
