Bursa opens marginally higher

KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today as mild bargain-hunting emerged, interspersed with profit-taking activities.

At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.69 of-a-point or 0.04 per cent, to 1,579.14 from 1,578.45 at Friday’s close.

The index opened 2.99 points higher at 1,581.44.

Market breadth was positive with gainers surpassing losers 285 to 132, while 279 counters were unchanged, 1,444 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 344.42 million shares worth RM165.35 million.

Malacca Securities, in an equity note, said tracking the sideways tone on Wall Street, investors may stay sidelines while monitoring Malaysia’s industrial production index to be released on Friday and European Central Bank’s interest rate decision on Thursday.

“Also, we might expect the sentiment to stay weak on technology stocks as US President Joe Biden expands the list of Chinese companies banned from US investment.

“Commodity-wise, both crude palm oil and Brent oil prices are seeing a mild pullback,” it said.

The research house said transportation and logistics counters may continue to stay focus following a strong surge last Thursday and they should do well under the COVID-19 environment.

The transportation and logistics counters recorded the highest gains today, increasing by 2.18 per cent.

“Besides, we expect chemical-related sectors to remain attractive as their results have been on a growing trend.

“Also, with the subsiding COVID-19 cases, recovery-theme stocks should be focused,” the research house said.

On heavyweight counters, Maybank up one sen to RM8.18, Public Bank, IHH and CIMB were two sen higher at RM4.22, RM5.32 and RM4.47, respectively, while PetChem lost six sen to RM8.02 and Press Metal declined two sen to RM5.19.

As for actives, Hibiscus improved 10 sen to 75.5 sen, NWP gained one sen to 19.5 sen and Serba Dinamik fell four sen to 72.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 22.76 points stronger at 11,540.56, the FBMT 100 Index increased 16.73 points to 11,222.31, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 11.84 points to 12,740.14, the FBM ACE appreciated 6.09 points to 7,806.39, and the FBM 70 earned 68.09 points to 15,008.00.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 44.99 points to 15,189.67, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.20 point to 193.18, and the Plantation Index rose 24.30 points to 6,794.10.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday in conjunction with the official birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets