Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia started slightly higher today on a volatile note amid Wall Street’s weaker performance overnight.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.05 points to 1,616.69 from Thursday’s close of 1,615.64.
The index opened 0.21 of-a-point higher at 1,615.85.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 164 to 119, while 267 counters were unchanged, 1,926 untraded and 12 suspended.
Turnover amounted to 102.97 million units valued at RM61.85 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said that the ongoing buying streak will continue and remains hopeful that foreign selling will not derail the current uptrend.
“Crucially the benchmark index is still stuck within the consolidation phase and needs to break the 1,630 mark before the local bourse improves to higher levels.
“Today, we expect the index to trend within the 1,610 to 1,620 range,” it said in a research note.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM10.22 and RM8.19, respectively, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional were 2 sen lower at RM4.55 and RM13.58, respectively, and IHH fell 3 sen to RM7.30.
Of the active stocks, Zen Tech and CN Asia fell 0.5 sen each to 0.5 sen and 5 sen, respectively, and Velesto was flat at 15.5 sen. Nationgate added 2 sen to RM2.44, and Supermax bagged 1 sen to 99.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index expanded 10.32 points to 12,338.52, the FBMT 100 index climbed 10.22 points to 12,024.50, and the FBM 70 index jumped 24.37 points up to 18,289.91.
The FBM Emas shariah index advanced 12.09 points to 12,316.19, and the FBM ACE index increased 2.12 points to 5,246.88.
Sector-wise, the financial services index slid 28.03 points to 19,164.98 while the plantation index strengthened 9.87 points to 7,788.12. The industrial products and services index inched up 0.09 of-a-point to 175.41 but the energy index added 1.09 points to 821.65.
