By Abdul Hamid A Rahman
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday, taking its cue from Wall Street’s mixed performance overnight as investors welcomed the United States Federal Reserve’s (US Fed) second interest rate cut this year.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.62 points to 1,613.16 from Wednesday’s close of 1,611.54, after opening 2.62 points higher at 1,614.16.
Market breadth was slightly negative, with 184 losers outpacing 136 gainers while 304 counters were unchanged, 2,086 untraded and 101 suspended.
Turnover stood at 163.55 million shares valued at RM84.54 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended mixed after the Fed reduced its benchmark rate by 25 basis points.
He said the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.16 per cent to 47,632.00 points, the S&P 500 was almost flat at 6,809.59 points, while the Nasdaq added 0.55 per cent to 23,958.47 points.
“As for the local bourse, we are hopeful that the US interest rate cut will boost investor confidence. Hence, we anticipate the benchmark FBM KLCI to trend higher within the 1,610–1,620 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional added two sen each to RM4.21 and RM13.32, respectively. IHH Healthcare rose 17 sen to RM8.42 while Maybank and CIMB group were flat at RM9.87 and RM7.38, respectively.
On the most active list, Systech added one sen to 21.5 sen, TWL Holdings and Insights Analytics were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 69 sen, respectively. Tanco eased one sen to 91.5 sen, and Perak Transit slipped half-a-sen to 38 sen.
Top gainers included LPC Group, which surged 30 sen to 40 sen, Far East Holdings added 18 sen to RM4.28, United Plantations gained 12 sen to RM24.40, Hong Leong Industries and KESM Industries rose 12 sen to RM13.82 and RM13.56, respectively.
Top losers included Mentiga Corporation, which fell eight sen to 52 sen, Scientex and Solarvest eased six sen each to RM3.48 and RM3.02, respectively, Petronas Chemicals declined five sen to RM3.97, and Sam Engineering slipped four sen to RM4.95.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 1.31 points to 12,055.01, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 2.43 points to 11,794.99, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 1.53 points to 12,141.10.
Meanwhile, the FBM 70 Index decreased 37.09 points to 17,124.90, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 10.58 points to 5,214.98.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 11.66 points to 18,181.26, and the Plantation Index increased 11.50 points to 7,973.49, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.59 of-a-point to 171.58, and the Energy Index fell 1.69 points to 773.33.
-- BERNAMA
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