By Siti Radziah Hamzah
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, opened on a better note Thursday morning, tracking Wall Street’s positive performance overnight.
At 9.30 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 5.52 points to 1,445.63 from 1,440.11 at Wednesday’s close, after opening 1.41 points better at 1,440.11.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 280 to 202, while 302 counters were unchanged, 1,567 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 741.78 million units worth RM205.79 million (US$1=RM4.64).
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that the FBM KLCI declined on Wednesday as investors took the opportunity to take profit on concerns over China’s economic situation.
“Although such correction is deemed healthy, we reckon an immediate rebound is imminent as bargain hunting activities should emerge anytime soon, thus, we anticipate the index to hover in the 1,440-1,450 range today,” he said to Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.01, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals both gained one sen to RM4.09 and RM6.81, respectively, while CIMB increased four sen to RM5.62 and TNB advanced three sen to RM10.02.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy and CN Asia edged up half-a-sen to 5.5 sen and 24.5 sen, respectively, and Reach Energy rose by one sen to 4.5 sen, while Hong Seng edged down half-a-sen to five sen, and both Perdana Petroleum and Parkson declined one sen to 22.5 sen and 35.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index strengthened 36.14 points to 10,672.04, the FBMT 100 Index went up 37.06 points to 10,355.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index widened 30.09 points to 10,889.88, the FBM 70 Index was 40.4 points higher at 14,159.97, and the FBM ACE Index gained 0.34 of-a-point to 5,285.48.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index rose 1.25 points to 825.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.04 of-a-point to 168.39 and the Financial Services Index gained 56.27 points to 16,239.26, while the Plantation Index slid 5.21 points to 6,957.87.
— NNN-BERNAMA