Bursa M’sia opens sharply higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened sharply higher and continued its upward momentum this morning, supported by buying interest in most bluechip stocks led by Maybank, dealers said.

At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 11.54 points firmer at 1,698.09 versus Wednesday’s close of 1,686.55.

The index opened 8.30 points better at 1,694.85.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 185 to 73, with 122 unchanged, 1,541 counters untraded and 73 others were suspended.

Volume stood at 89.64 million units valued at RM55.90 million.

Public Investment Bank Bhd said the local stock market was tracking the positive overnight close on Wall Street which saw the S&P 500 stock index ending the day 2.3% higher while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite gained almost three per cent.

This came after the US Federal Reserve indicated a neutral interest rate increase next year.

On Bursa Malaysia, the investment bank said while still taking on the shape of a descending triangle, tendency for the FBM KLCI to stage a bullish breakout of the pattern in the near-term had moderated and the index would struggle to remain above the 1,680 points level mark for the rest of the week.

“Nevertheless, should there be a re-emergence of buying interest to lift the index above the 1,720 points level in the near-term, a decisive bullish turnaround is still probable.

“Support levels for the index is at 1,622, 1,664 and 1,680, while the resistance levels is seen at 1,700, 1,720 and 1,735,” it said in a note today.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM9.48, Public Bank fell two sen to RM24.86, Tenaga lost four sen to RM14.22, Petronas Chemicals increased four sen to RM9.30 and CIMB perked six sen to RM5.81.

IHH Healthcare, the top gainer this morning, rose 51 sen to RM5.76 after Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) announced that is selling a 16 per cent stake in IHH to Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd for RM8.42 billion.

Following the divestment, Khazanah’s shareholding in IHH would decrease to 26.05%.

Of actives, Nova MSC eased half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, BCM Alliance fell two sen to 19.5 sen and Genting Malaysia was flat at RM3.00.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 100.17 points to 11,819.47, the FBM 70 was up 79.37 points to 13,788.94 but FBM Ace Index was 2.60 points lower at 4,886.57.

The FBM Emas Index gained 75.41 points to 11,761.83 and the FBMT 100 Index bagged 76.15 points to 11,624.42.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 28.37 points to 6,974.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.64 of-a-point better at 172.29 and the Financial Services Index advanced 70.97 points to 17,457.15.

Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was untraded as at 9.34 am.

November 2018, December 2018, January 2019 and February 2019 were unchanged at RM164.30, RM164.30, RM164.40 and RM164.50 per gramme, respectively.

Volume was nil while open interest amounted to 30 contracts.

At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was up 94 sen at RM159.30. — Bernama

Source: TheSunDaily