BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER, TRACKING WALL STREET GAINS

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia edged higher in early trade, following mostly stronger sessions on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.08 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.21 points to 1,625.60, after an early dip to 1,622.56, compared with Thursday’s close of 1,625.39.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outnumbering decliners 146 to 127. A total of 265 counters were unchanged, 2,230 were untraded, and 16 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 134.43 million shares, valued at RM58.39 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended mostly higher as investors focused on small-cap companies, which are expected to benefit from lower borrowing costs.

“Small-cap companies could support the so-called ‘Santa Rally’ following the recent interest rate cut,” he told Bernama.

“Traders also rotated out of artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks into the broader market after disappointing results from Oracle. Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yield remained flat at 4.153 per cent.”

On the local front, Thong noted that the FBM KLCI rose to 1,625 yesterday, its highest level in five days, underpinned by steady buying throughout the session.

“We expect a mix of local institutional and foreign funds drove the buying interest. The index is likely to trade within the 1,620–1,630 range today,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional added eight sen to RM12.82, while Maybank and Public Bank were unchanged at RM10.26 and RM4.42, respectively. CIMB Group and IHH Healthcare slipped one sen each to RM7.87 and RM8.39.

On the most active list, Vantris Energy rose seven sen to 43 sen, Perak Transit gained 1.5 sen to 30 sen, while TWL Holdings and BMS Holdings were flat at 2.5 sen and 21 sen respectively. MMAG Holdings eased half a sen to 6.5 sen.

Top gainers included Scicom, up six sen to RM1.32, LAC Med, which added 4.5 sen to 81 sen, and Petronas Chemicals, which gained four sen to RM3.41. TMK Chemical and Dufu Technology rose four sen each to RM1.38 and RM1.60.

Among the top losers, Nestle fell 60 sen to RM113.60, Fraser & Neave shed 48 sen to RM34.52, Malaysian Pacific declined 30 sen to RM31.70, Country View eased 11 sen to RM2.76, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong slipped 10 sen to RM19.42.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 3.15 points to 11,980.51, the FBM Emas Shariah dropped 2.43 points to 11,820.33, the FBMT 100 Index declined 7.78 points to 11,769.09, and the FBM 70 Index eased 30.40 points to 16,600.04, while the FBM ACE Index rose 1.16 points to 4,713.22.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 53.59 points to 19,098.88, and the Plantation Index slipped 11.90 points to 8,122.27. The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.45 of-a-point to 167.99, while the Energy Index edged up 0.20 of-a-point to 763.00.

-- BERNAMA