KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher in line with most regional markets, echoing the Wall Street’s stronger overnight performance.
At 9.05am, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 10.08 points or 0.73 per cent to 1,387.01 from Wednesday’s close of 1,376.93. The FBM KLCI opened 5.19 points higher at at 1,382.12.
Bursa Malaysia was closed yesterday for the Wesak Day public holiday.
Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers 292 to 76, while 218 counters were unchanged, 1,289 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 270.43 million shares worth RM106.74 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the late selling pressure on the FBM KLCI on Wednesday suggested a lack of buying support over the near-term as the key index failed to build onto the gains.
The bourse’s performance on Wednesday was affected by selling pressure in selected banking heavyweights following Bank Negara Malaysia’s move to slash interest rate by 50 basis points, which also resulted in a weaker ringgit against the US dollar.
“With the absence of follow-through buying support, the key index may continue to trade sideways over the foreseeable future, ranging between the 1,360 and 1,400 levels, which are the immediate support and resistance levels, respectively,” said Malacca Securities.
Among heavyweight counters, Maybank rose two sen to RM7.43, TNB jumped 28 sen to RM12.44, Public Bank appreciated 18 sen to RM15.92, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM5.50, Maxis gained five sen to RM5.31, Axiata was flat at RM3.87 and IHH Healthcare eased three sen to RM5.16.
As for the actives, K-One increased three sen to 24 sen, Key Alliance, Bioalpha and Advance Synergy edged up half-a-sen each to 24 sen, 11.5 sen and 12.5 sen, respectively, Green Packet advance two sen to 77 sen, while Hubline and Sapura Energy were flat at five sen and nine sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 77.52 points to 9,761.18, the FBMT 100 Index increased 75.35 points to 9,612.32, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 85.42 points to 10,870.35, the FBM ACE strengthened 35.94 points to 4,963.6, while the FBM 70 surged 115.89 points to 11,904.18.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 84.87 points to 12,315.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.44 of-a-point to 120.88, while the Plantation Index increased 8.07 points at 6,286.6. ― Bernama