KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, opened higher in line with Wall Street’s positive performance overnight.
At 9.09 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.76 points to 1,427.37 from Thursday’s close of 1,424.61.
The main index opened 0.18 of-a-point higher at 1,424.79.
Market breadth was positive as gainers beat decliners at 201 to 87, while 214 counters were unchanged, 1,774 untraded and 73 others suspended.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street marched higher with the Dow advancing by 0.4 per cent, driven by gains in technology giants that offset the hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve officials on the back of further monetary tightening.
Hence, it said, the local bourse would see further upside, supported by the China visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which may see further investments emerge going forward.
The brokerage also forecast quarter-end window dressing activities, with traders focusing on banking, properties as well as oil and gas heavyweights.
Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, CelcomDigi rose four sen to RM4.34 (US$1 = RM4.40), Tenaga Nasional added six sen to RM9.24, MR DIY and Sime Darby improved two sen each to RM1.55 and RM2.18, respectively, and Axiata and Maxis bagged three sen each to RM3.04 and RM4.13, respectively.
As for the actives, MyEG climbed three sen to 76 sen, Pesona Metro was 2.5 sen higher at 28 sen, Saudee lost half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, and Meta Bright ticked up one sen to 12 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 22.46 points to 10,446.87, the FBMT 100 Index rose 22.57 points to 10,141.85, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 28.95 points to 10,751.74.
The FBM 70 Index went up 42.37 points to 13,524.01 and the FBM ACE Index was 10.52 points better at 5,213.85.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 18.43 points to 15,748.31, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.05 of-a-point to 171.59, the Plantation Index added 3.42 points to 6,733.90, and the Energy Index advanced 4.64 points to 836.91.
— NNN-BERNAMA