BURSA MALAYSIA REBOUNDS TO OPEN HIGHER

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia staged a rebound from yesterday's losses at the opening bell today, supported by renewed buying activities in selected heavyweights amid a recovery in the regional markets, according to an analyst.

At 9.15 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 4.40 points to 1,643.71 from Wednesday’s close of 1,639.31.

The benchmark index had opened 1.39 points higher at 1,640.70.

Market breadth was positive with advancers outpacing decliners 266 to 146, while 279 counters remained unchanged, 1,721 untraded, and nine suspended.

Turnover stood at 204.34 million units valued at RM105.22 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors’ attention remained on the China and Hong Kong markets, as the Chinese government rolled out several stimulus packages to boost the economy and stock markets.

It said Wall Street managed to eke out marginal gains overnight, with the latest ADP non-farm employment data coming in better than expected.

“Although Wall Street saw slight gains, we expect negative sentiment to persist on the local front ahead of the US non-farm payroll data. The current range of the ringgit is likely to benefit domestic-driven sectors such as consumer.

“As we approach Budget 2025, we suggest investors position themselves in the construction, property, and utilities sectors. Also, Oracle's plan to establish a cloud region in Malaysia, with an investment exceeding US$6.5 billion, should provide a boost to the technology sector,” the brokerage firm said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional improved 6.0 sen each to RM10.52 and RM14.36, respectively, Public Bank went up 4.0 sen to RM4.57, CIMB Group edged up 1.0 sen to RM7.99, ande IHH Healthcare slipped 1.0 sen to RM7.23.

Regarding the active counters, OCR Group and Lay Hong fell 1.0 sen each to 4.5 sen and 39 sen, respectively, while Parkson Holdings added half-a-sen to 20.5 sen and Pegasus was flat at half-a-sen.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia announced that short selling under Intraday Short Selling (IDSS) for stock Pertama Digital Bhd has been suspended for the rest of the day as the last done price of the approved securities dropped more than 15 per cent or 15 sen from the reference price.

“The short selling under IDSS will only be activated the following trading day, Friday, Oct 4, 2024, at 08:30 am,” it added.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 32.04 points to 12,298.19, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 16.25 points to 12,220.38.

The FBMT 100 Index perked 30.43 points to 11,991.45 and the FBM 70 Index climbed 37.82 points to 17,383.15, while the FBM ACE Index slipped 7.71 points to 5,118.11.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 95.60 points to 19,260.44, the Energy Index advanced 5.99 points to 857.09, the Plantation Index gave up 7.84 points to 7,164.21, and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.72 of-a-point to 176.90.

-- BERNAMA