BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER SUPPORTED BY STRONGER RINGGIT, INTEREST IN DOMESTIC SECTORS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher for the third straight day, lifted by the ringgit’s continued strength against the US dollar, which is expected to draw traders’ focus towards domestic sectors such as consumer counters.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 4.58 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,639.41 from Tuesday’s close of 1,634.83, after opening 1.91 points firmer at 1,636.74.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers, 186 to 112. There were 297 counters unchanged, 2,124 untraded, and 10 suspended. 

Turnover stood at 215.24 million shares valued at RM74.42 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Wall Street ended mixed as the artificial intelligence (AI) trade faced renewed pressure this month due to mounting valuation concerns, dragging the Nasdaq’s month-to-date losses to around one per cent.

Overall, the brokerage believes the optimism of ending the government shutdown could have a spillover effect on the local bourse.

“However, the upside in technology may be capped, as concerns over United States technology valuations still linger.

“We are still positive on high-momentum stocks, as the strengthening of the ringgit will shift traders’ attention to domestic-driven sectors like consumer and stocks, which would benefit from lower input costs,” it said in a note.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB rose three sen each to RM9.94 and RM7.68, respectively. Both Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM4.30 and RM13.38, respectively, while IHH Healthcare fell four sen to RM8.26.

On the most active list, ACE debutant Farmiera declined 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen, MMAG and Perak Transit lost half-a-sen each to 8.5 sen and 27 sen, respectively, while Borneo Oil and TWL were flat at one sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.

Among the top gainers are Nestle and Fraser & Neave, which increased 80 sen to RM112.80 and RM31.0, respectively. Hong Leong Bank added 20 sen to RM21.08, PJBumi gained 17 sen to RM1.75, and MISC was 15 sen higher at RM7.89.

Top losers included Malaysian Pacific, which slipped 40 sen to RM31.0, United Plantations edged down 22 sen to RM25.58, while QL Resources, Hong Leong Industries and Panasonic all decreased 80 sen to RM4.30, RM15.0 and RM7.90, respectively.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 66.84 points to 11,909.46, while the FBM Emas Index jumped 71.57 points to 12,156.15.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index firmed 34.18 points to 11,906.55, the FBM ACE Index improved 11.99 points to 5,087.71, and the FBM Mid 70 Index garnered 52.63 points to 16,938.37.

By sector, the Plantation Index increased 7.78 points to 8,184.18, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.50 of a point to 168.33, the Financial Services Index jumped 78.11 points to 18,522.01, while the Energy Index gave up 0.59 of a point to 758.75.

-- BERNAMA