Bargain hunters lift Bursa higher in early trade

Free Malaysia Today

2 days ago

KUALA LUMPUR : Bursa Malaysia opened higher today on mild bargain hunting amid the mixed overnight performance on Wall Street, analysts said.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.50 points firmer at 1,509.47, compared with Wednesday's close of 1,507.97.
The benchmark index opened 2.73 points higher at 1,510.70.
The broader market saw a slight lead from positive gainers, with 106 leading decliners at 100, while 222 counters were unchanged, 1,928 untraded, and 20 suspended.
Turnover stood at 82.87 million units, valued at RM52.36 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the mixed Wall Street was due to the US private sector hiring data, which hit its lowest level in two years, on concerns over prevailing uncertainty, weighing on the US economy.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index (HSI) maintained its uptrend to a near two-month high, as traders remained confident that a negotiation between China and the US would take place anytime soon.
Back home, Thong said the FBM KLCI on Wednesday finally reversed its recent downtrend to close in positive territory, attributed to last-minute bargain hunting.
Overall, he noted that trading activities remained muted, as indicated by the low daily volume of 2.4 billion shares.
'We noticed there has been a spate of downgrades on the FBM KLCI target this year, given the prevailing trade uncertainty.
'Nonetheless, we envisage bargain-hunting activities to prevail, hence, expect the index to trend within the 1,505-1,515 range today,' Thong added.
Among the heavyweights, Press Metal Aluminium added 10 sen to RM5.00, MR DIY rose 3.0 sen to RM1.58, YTL Power International increased 5.0 sen to RM3.34, Nestle bagged 64 sen to RM79.00, and Sime Darby ticked up 1.0 sen to RM1.71.
Among active stocks, ACE Market debutant Signatute Alliance Group climbed 6.0 sen to 68 sen, NexG added half-a-sen to 38.5 sen, Borneo Oil slid half-a-sen to half-a-sen, OCR was flat at 3.5 sen, and Country Heights gained 1.0 sen to 26.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index strengthened 8.48 points to 11,291.56, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 7.75 points to 11,060.69, but the FBM ACE Index decreased 0.89 of-a-point to 4,478.76.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 8.18 points to 11,249.83, but the FBM 70 Index gave up 1.46 points to 16,167.53.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 3.57 points to 17,754.28, but the Industrial Products and Services Index was up 0.17 of-a-point to 150.27, the Plantation Index grew 5.52 points to 7,209.19, and the Energy Index recovered 0.81 points to 703.27.