Bursa tracks regional peers’ modest gains to open higher

KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking the modest gains of regional peers and in line with Wall Street and European equities’ overnight performance.

United States and European shares swung between modest gains and losses yesterday ahead of the US central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 3.98 points better at 1,516.51 from 1,512.53 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 3.2 points higher at 1,524.47.  

On the broader market, gainers led losers 211 to 151, while 238 counters were unchanged, 1,626 untraded and 30  suspended.

Turnover stood at 273.93 million units worth RM108.76 million.

The ringgit, too, opened higher against the greenback, as weak economic data from the US took a toll on the dollar.

At 9.04am, the local note rose to 4.2260/2285 versus the dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.2300/2320.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said new US home sales data came out lower than expected – a negative factor for the dollar as the market is currently moving sideways. – Bernama, July 27, 2021