KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher today tracking Wall Street’s upbeat overnight performance as confidence was buoyed by a spate of solid corporate earnings, seen as a precursor of those from the mega caps which will be reported over the next few days, said an analyst.
At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 7.81 points to 1,569.45 from yesterday’s close of 1,561.64. The benchmark index opened 3.85 points higher at 1,565.49.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 284 to 105 while 277 counters were unchanged, 1,698 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 220.10 million units worth RM112.89 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 264 points while the Nasdaq added 245 points. Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield eased to 4.607% due to latest US manufacturing data hitting a four-month low.
He said Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased to almost 17,000-levels as traders welcomed China’s latest reforms to boost the Hong Kong market, coupled with optimism on corporate earnings from major technology companies.
“Back home, we expect the construction, finance and telecommunication sectors to be the centre of buying interests today, and the index to hover within the 1,560-1,570 range,” he told Bernama.
With the rebound in Wall Street, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said buying interest may spill over towards stocks on the local front.
“Following the KL20 Summit 2024, buying interest was noticed and we expect the momentum to sustain at least for the near term within the technology sectors. This is with the aim for Malaysia to become the chip powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region, while the attention may spill over towards the construction, property, utilities and building materials segments.
“Meanwhile, traders may look into aviation and hospitality themes as Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s passenger traffic continued to recover in the first quarter of 2024,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank perked up 2.0 sen to RM9.84 and RM4.23 respectively, CIMB rose 8.0 sen to RM6.75, IHH Healthcare inched up 2.0 sen to RM6.26, but Tenaga Nasional went down 2.0 sen to RM11.70.
As for the actives, Borneo Oil edged up half-a-sen to 1.0 sen, RGB International was 1.0 sen better at 39.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide eased half-a-sen to 9.0 sen, while Ingenieur Gudang and Widad were flat at 13.5 sen and 6.0 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index gained 55.22 points to 11,770.26, the FBMT 100 index added 52.81 points to 11,411.07, the FBM 70 index advanced 59.26 points to 16,308.30, the FBM ACE index jumped 44.64 points to 5,002.79, and the FBM emas shariah index climbed 54.00 points to 11,912.35.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index edged up 0.51 of-a-point to 186.07, the financial services index was 69.71 points up to 17,425.06, the energy index was 2.71 points higher at 971.87 and the plantation index picked up 29.90 points to 7,413.85. – April 24, 2024