KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking the overnight improvement on Wall Street.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.93 points to 1,585.57 from Thursday’s close of 1,582.64.
The index opened 3.87 points higher at 1,586.51.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 294 to 171, while 328 counters were unchanged, 1,331 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume stood at 596.52 million shares worth RM225.02 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the local bourse to extend the rebound formation, especially in the technology stocks, mirroring the gains on Nasdaq.
Commodities wise, both crude palm oil and oil prices have seen a strong surge of more than 3.0 per cent, it added.
“We reckon that the overnight gains on Nasdaq may continue supporting the uptrend on technology stocks on the local front.
“Also, traders may focus on the recovery theme, as Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mentioned that fully vaccinated individuals may be allowed to travel domestically and internationally,” the brokerage said in a research note today.
It added that market participants could look into the oil and gas and plantation sector, given the strong surge in crude palm oil and Brent oil prices.
Brent crude jumped 3.38 per cent to US$64.86 per barrel, after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will add more than two million barrels a day to world oil supplies between May and July.
The move will rebuild a quarter of crude oil stock after the oil cartel and its allies making a deep cut a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia’s energy index rose 3.16 points to 938.34.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and TNB gained two sen each to RM8.27, RM4.24 and RM10.28, respectively, IHH Healthcare was one sen higher at RM5.31, while Petronas Chemicals and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM8.05 and RM18.58, respectively.
As for the active counters, Luster Industries advanced 1.5 sen to 23 sen, Ucrest, Permaju Industries, HB Global and KNM all inched up half-a-sen to 25.5 sen, 21 sen, 28.5 sen and 19.5 sen, respectively, while Berjaya Corp was flat at 43.5 sen and MCT edged down half-a-sen to 32.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 16.89 points to 11,724.31, the FBM 70 put on 2.53 points to 15,662.47, the FBMT 100 rose 15.97 points to 11,381.74, the FBM Emas Shariah increased 23.19 points to 12,988.5, and the FBM ACE trimmed 141.3 points to 9,852.13.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 24.35 points to 15,276.89, the Plantation Index went up 1.32 points to 7,035.08, and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.47 of-a-point to 193.52.
— Bernama
