BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER, TRACKING WALL STREET'S OVERNIGHT PERFORMANCE 

By Karina Imran

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded from yesterday’s losses to open higher today, tracking Wall Street’s overnight upbeat performance, said an analyst. 

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.47 points to 1,668.77 from Monday’s close of 1,665.30. 

The benchmark index opened 1.95 points firmer at 1,667.25.

Across the broader market, gainers led losers 203 to 130, with 290 counters unchanged, 1,882 untraded and 19 suspended.

Turnover totalled 154.59 million units valued at RM114.65 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street closed higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 charting record highs amid a choppy session. 

“Nonetheless, sentiment might have turned cautious as traders will now look at Thursday’s weekly jobless claims,” he told Bernama. 

On the local front, the FBMKLCI closed marginally lower yesterday possibly due to the lack of buying catalysts and the local bourse undergoing an intermittent consolidation. 

Hence, Thong expects the index to hover within the range of 1,660 to 1,670 today. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM10.70, CIMB added two sen to RM8.36, and Tenaga Nasional gained 10 sen to RM14.84. Meanwhile, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were down by one sen to RM4.69 and RM7.10, respectively. 

As for the active counters, Sin-Kung Logistics and Globetronics inched up one sen to 19 sen and 70 sen, respectively. AGX Group rose 4.5 sen to 62 sen, 99 Speed Mart Retail was three sen higher to RM2.02, and APB Resources was up by two sen to 57 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded by 19.51 points to 12,524.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 22.27 points to 12,379.58, the FBMT 100 Index went up 19.10 points to 12,216.64, the FBM 70 Index rose 4.39 points to 17,867.77, and the FBM ACE Index put on 2.95 points to 5,188.72.   

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 25.39 points to 19,724.23, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.52 of-a-point to 177.82, and the Energy Index improved 3.47 points to 874.72. 

However, the Plantation Index fell 11.61 points to 7,140.38.

-- BERNAMA