Bursa Malaysia opens slightly higher, tracking Wall Street’s uptrend

KUALA LUMPUR,. Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today, tracking the Wall Street’s uptrend overnight, said an analyst.

At 9.06am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched up 0.15 points to 1,418.20 from yesterday’s close of 1,418.05.

The barometer index opened 0.19 of-a-point better at 1,418.24.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading decliners 155 to 116, while 207 counters were unchanged, 1,801 untraded and 50 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 134.73 million units valued at RM55.79 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although the US gross domestic product (GDP) growth came in lower than expected for the first quarter of 2023, indicating a looming recession, US equities had surged, buoyed by strong corporate earnings,

The Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average rose by 524 points, while the Nasdaq added 288 points.

“Back home, the FBM KLCI is expected to trend higher today and hover within the 1,420-1,430 range with interest returning to the technology sector after a seven-day downtrend.

“However, plantation stocks may continue to experience headwinds in view of the weakening crude palm oil price which had dipped to below RM3,500 per tonne,” he told Bernama.

In the meantime, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank erased one sen to RM8.69 and CelcomDigi fell two sen to RM4.38, while Public Bank and CIMB were one sen higher at RM3.90 and RM5.08, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM7.07.

As for the actives, Bintai Kinden decreased half-a-sen to three sen and Jade Marvel was flat at 28 sen, while Computer Forms increased one sen to 29 sen, Aimflex inched up half-a-sen to 19 sen and SMRT added two sen to 70.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index eased 1.19 points to 10,410.63, the FBMT 100 Index deducted 1.38 points to 10,093.35, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 4.33 points to 10,744.65.

The FBM ACE Index was 14.56 points better at 5,366.96, while the FBM 70 index dropped 11.92 points to 13,528.31.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.15 of a point to 171.01, the Financial Services Index fell 0.16 points to 15,559.87, Energy Index went down 1.66 points to 845.68 and the Plantation Index was 14.95 points weaker at 6,840.72. ― Bernama