KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded from yesterday’s losses to open higher today as a spate of firm corporate results released on Tuesday provided positive market catalysts.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 12.07 points — or 0.77 per cent — to 1,577.12 from 1,565.05 at Tuesday’s closing.
The key index opened 5.96 points firmer at 1,571.01.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 279 to 223, while 340 counters were unchanged, 1,356 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 881.52 million units worth RM245.11 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said while the local bourse’s performance is expected to remain volatile today, the prevailing spate of good corporate results would serve as catalysts in the market.
“Hence, we expect the benchmark index to possibly range between 1,570 and 1,580 today,” it said in a note today.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the arrival of the second batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine today and the vaccine distribution to continue to attract buying interest in recovery-themed stocks, moving forward.
“Also, traders will focus on sectors with high earnings certainty during this reporting season,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank bagged 10 sen to RM7.99, Public Bank gained five sen to RM4.13, Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga went up 11 sen each to RM7.61 and RM9.97, respectively, while CIMB was six sen firmer at RM4.25.
Of the actives, Metronic Global perked two sen to 12.5 sen and its warrant advanced 2.5 sen to 7.5 sen, XOX inched up 1.5 sen to 10.5 sen and its warrant added one sen to three sen, while AirAsia X was unchanged at 10 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle which leapt 70 sen to RM136.00, Takaful which increased 22 sen to RM4.58 and KLK which improved 18 sen to RM23.40, while Alcom was 13.5 sen higher at 69.5 sen and Frontken climbed 12 sen to RM5.44.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index accumulated 76.39 points to 11,627.20, the FBMT 100 Index gained 71.26 points to 11,300.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 64.15 points higher at 13,042.65.
The FBM 70 strengthened 39.13 points to 15,468.61 and the FBM ACE expanded 48.48 points to 11,167.83.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 131.19 points to 14,828.02, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.51 points to 182.09 and the Plantation Index increased 22.30 points to 7,165.48.
— Bernama
