Local institutional buying fuels Bursa Malaysia at opening
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's momentum to open higher today, as current stock valuations remain appealing, prompting continued accumulation by local institutions, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.70 points to 1,527.54 from Wednesday's close of 1,523.84. The benchmark index opened at 1,527.71, higher by 3.87 points.
Market breadth was positive with 123 advancers versus 108 decliners, while 250 counters were unchanged, 1,914 untraded and 17 suspended.
Turnover stood at 88.62 million units, valued at RM51.38 million.
Thong explained that the FBM KLCI jumped above the 1,520 mark as buyers emerged.
"This may be due to stock accumulation by local institutions. Though fundamentals remain largely unchanged, we expect the index to hover within the 1,520-1,530 range today," he told Bernama.
The top 30 counters showed a mixed performance, ranging from flat to higher, with gains led by IHH, which added nine sen to RM6.95, Petronas Gas was 26 sen better at RM17.96, Press Metal improved five sen to RM5.05 and MISC was eight sen better at RM7.78.
Among the most active stocks, MPire was flat at 12 sen, while its warrants erased half-a-sen to 11.5 sen. Velesto was unchanged at 18.5 sen, Paradigm REIT also traded flat at RM1.03, XL warrant lost half-a-sen to seven sen while Bumi Armada added one sen to 48.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 23.47 points to 11,461.20, the FBMT 100 Index improved 23.30 points to 11,226.84, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 33.90 points to 11,426.57.
The FBM 70 Index gained 18.85 points to 16,544.07.
But the FBM ACE Index ticked down 4.62 points to 4,539.43.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 4.12 points to 17,775.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index notched up 0.58 of a point to 152.89, and the Plantation Index gained 10.56 points to 7,224.38.
The Energy Index added 7.63 points to 731.40.
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