Bursa Malaysia opens slightly higher as investors weigh Wall Street signals, Middle East ceasefire
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.07 per cent, or 1.12 points, to 1,520.91 from Wednesday's close of 1,519.79.
The benchmark index had opened 0.45 of-a-point firmer at 1,520.24.
The broader market was positive, with 140 gainers outpacing 132 decliners. A total of 255 counters were unchanged, 1,911 untraded, and 102 suspended.
Turnover stood at 112.85 million shares worth RM64.10 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, said Wall Street closed on a mixed note as investors weighed ongoing developments in the Middle East and whether the prevailing ceasefire would hold.
He added that hopes of an interest rate cut also supported sentiment, after US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell maintained a cautious tone in his latest remarks.
Back home, Thong noted that the FBM KLCI had seen stock accumulation by local institutions as well as an influx of foreign funds in recent sessions.
'Nonetheless, we prefer to remain cautious as developments in the Middle East remain fluid. We expect the index to trend within the 1,515-1,525 range today,' he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, Malayan Banking and Tenaga Nasional rose two sen each to RM9.81 and RM14.26 respectively. CIMB added three sen to RM6.80, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.30 and RM6.70 respectively.
Among the most active counters, ACE Market debutant Pan Merchant slipped 3.5 sen to 23.5 sen. SNS Network and Reservoir Link lost two sen each to settle at 54 sen and 20.5 sen, respectively, while Dataprep and Solution Group added half a sen each to 10 sen and 10.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 9.66 points to 11,356.22, the FBMT 100 Index added 7.26 points to 11,135.66, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 5.48 points to 11,307.26.
The FBM 70 Index advanced 6.49 points to 16,236.59, while the FBM ACE Index slipped 8.75 points to 4,450.22.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 27.27 points to 17,690.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.09 of a point to 150.30, the Plantation Index added 5.09 points to 7,235.28, and the Energy Index improved 1.27 points to 729.38. — Bernama
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