KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, opened slightly lower on Tuesday but rebounded thereafter, supported by renewed buying demand in selected financial services counters, dealers said.
At 9.33 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.16 points to 1,458.16 from 1,457.0 at Monday’s close.
The key index opened 0.14 of-a-point easier at 1,456.86.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 284 to 197, while 293 counters were unchanged, 1,566 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 744 million units worth RM255.92 million (US$1 = RM4.63).
In a note Tuesday, Malacca Securities said investors are now keeping a close tab on a slew of China economic data releases, namely retail sales, industrial production, and unemployment rate, to gauge the health of the world’s second-largest economy.
“Additionally, we expect the jump in India palm oil imports to bring a positive impact on the plantation sector. The resumption of group tours to another 78 countries from China may boost the tourism-related industry.
“Meanwhile, the soft crude oil prices pressured by the concern over China’s economic recovery and a stronger US dollar may result in some profit-taking in the energy sector,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained 3.0 sen to RM9.03, Public Bank and CIMB went up 1.0 sen each to RM4.16 and RM5.66, respectively, Tenaga Nasional fell 2.0 sen to RM9.78, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.83.
Of the actives, newly ACE Market-listed Glostrext jumped 12 sen to 31 sen, Classita earned half-a-sen to 9.0 sen, while MMAG and Advance Synergy were flat at 1.0 sen and 14.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 14.25 points better at 10,726.66, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 13.80 points to 10,414.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 8.70 points to 10,944.98, the FBM 70 Index increased 42.02 points to 14,106.23, while the FBM ACE Index shed 1.43 points to 5,323.89.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index perked up 31.30 points to 16,338.17, the Plantation Index decreased 20.80 points to 7,053.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.28 of-a-point to 167.74, and the Energy Index inched up 0.62 of-a-point to 834.73.
— NNN-BERNAMA