Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher On Renewed Sentiment

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia trended higher on Monday morning tracking Wall Street's upbeat performance last week amid renewed market sentiment as investors shrugged off tariff-related worries, an analyst said.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 14.33 points to 1,526.48 from Friday’s close of 1,512.15.  

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The benchmark index opened 5.43 points higher at 1,517.58.  

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 301 to 65, while 213 counters were unchanged, 1,845 untraded, and seven suspended.  

Turnover stood at 169.01 million shares worth RM102.96 million.  

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Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street staged a relief rally as all three major indices closed broadly higher following the lack of tariff-related headlines from the United States administration.

On the home front, he said the FBM KLCI managed to maintain its positivity after an erratic last week and expects bargain-hunting to persist in the local bourse for today.

“We reckon bargain hunters will continue to mop up shares around the 1,500 mark and below. For today, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,510-1,520 range,” he told Bernama.  

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM10.38, Public Bank added four sen to RM4.52, Tenaga Nasional gained 14 sen to RM13.54, CIMB put on nine sen to RM7.16 and IHH Healthcare picked up two sen to RM7.12.

In active stocks, Saliran edged up two sen to 24.5 sen, Nationgate was up six sen to RM1.42, SNS Network bagged 1.5 sen to 45 sen, and Oppstar climbed five sen to 66 sen, while Sapura Energy fell half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 120.84 points to 11,420.98, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 118.88 points to 11,188.71, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 115.23 points to 11,104.81.

The FBM 70 Index grew 229.04 points to 16,367.51, and the FBM ACE Index edged up 12.33 points to 4,690.01.  

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.84 points to 155.57, the Energy Index added 8.18 points to 726.91, the Financial Services Index garnered 167.38 points to 18,690.20, and the Plantation Index put on 15.11 points to 7,384.86.

-- BERNAMA