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

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, taking its cue from Wall Street’s strong overnight performance.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.65 points to 1,511.47 from Monday’s close of 1,503.82.

The benchmark index opened 6.25 points higher at 1,510.07.

On the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 211 to 81, with 211 counters unchanged, 1,933 untraded, and 16 suspended.

Turnover stood at 130.19 million shares worth RM59.74 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said that Wall Street closed broadly higher on hopes that United States (US) President Donald Trump would hold back some of his wide-ranging tariff plans, allowing the US to avert an economic slowdown and rising inflation.

“Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield increased to 4.34 per cent,” he told Bernama.

Thong said that the FBM KLCI closed slightly lower yesterday but managed to stay above the 1,500 mark as selling by foreign funds persisted amid a choppy session.

“The outlook remains dull as daily volume continues to hover around the 3.0 billion shares level.

“In view of the lack of fresh funds, we believe the index will hover within the 1,500 to 1,510 range again today,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 8.0 sen to RM10.24, CIMB Group rose 4.0 sen to RM6.96, IHH Healthcare gained 3.0 sen to RM6.98, and Public Bank garnered 1.0 sen to  RM4.49, while Tenaga Nasional remained unchanged at RM13.56.

Among the actives, EA Holdings, Borneo Oil, Zen Tech International and Mestron Holdings were flat at half-a-sen, 1.0 sen, 1.0 sen and 25.5 sen, respectively.

Meanwhile, ACE market debutant Wawasan Dengkil edged down half-a-sen to 24.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 59.38 points to 11,322.47, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 58.24 points to 11,080.83, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 54.14 points to 11,037.91, the FBM 70 Index rose by 94.02 points to 16,218.67, and the FBM ACE Index increased 9.37 points to 4,751.88.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index ticked up 90.02 points to 18,444.07, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.27 of-a-point to 152.32, the Energy Index added 6.15 points to 753.25, and the Plantation Index rose 8.30 points to 7,455.21.

-- BERNAMA