Bursa rebounds as buying returns to selected heavyweights
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.17 of a point, or 0.01%, to 1,549.16 from Thursday's close of 1,548.99.
The benchmark index had earlier opened 1.75 points higher at 1,550.74.
Market breadth was positive, with 157 gainers outpacing 134 decliners. A total of 268 counters were unchanged, 1,828 untraded and 21 suspended.
Turnover stood at 152.15 million shares worth RM80.68 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes that the local bourse may trade on a firmer footing today following a positive lead overnight from Wall Street.
It said this was driven by persistent buying interest in tech stocks after the de-escalation of the US-Vietnam trade deal, coupled with the return of foreign funds over the past week.
'Risk-on sentiment persisted on Wall Street, buoyed by stronger-than-anticipated jobs growth, and the de-escalating trade tension following the US-Vietnam trade deal.
'We anticipate the data centre theme may resume, leading to positive trading activity within the technology and telco sectors,' it said in a note.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 1.0 sen to RM9.79, Public Bank rose 1.0 sen to RM4.31, Tenaga Nasional added 8.0 sen to RM14.10, CIMB advanced 2.0 sen to RM6.81, while IHH Healthcare slipped 3.0 sen to RM6.82.
In active trade, Borneo Oil and Nationgate both remained unchanged at half-a-sen and RM1.67, respectively. Innature and SNS Network improved half-a-sen to 21 sen and 55.5 sen, respectively, while Inari Amertron dropped 1.0 sen to RM2.14.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 4.99 points to 11,612.71, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 6.85 points to 11,385.07, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 10.80 points to 11,627.22.
The FBM 70 Index reduced 45.43 points to 16,787.10, while the FBM ACE Index rose 0.26 of a point to 4,527.76.
By sector, the Financial Services Index ticked up 14.94 points to 17,749.53, the Plantation Index narrowed 16.26 points to 7,419.57, and the Energy Index was down 0.12 of a point to 743.39. The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.08 of a point to 156.09.
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