Bursa Malaysia opens higher, Top Glove in demand

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, thanks to buying support in the index-linked counters, led by Top Glove.

At 9.08 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.22 points to 1,649.75 after opening 5.14 points stronger at 1,651.67.

Top Glove, which announced a stellar financial results yesterday, rose 17 sen to RM7.01 with 3.89 million shares changing hands; contributing 2.71 points to the composite index.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers 291 to 228, while 337 counters were unchanged, 1,281 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume stood at 579.45 million units worth RM270.05 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said traders would be monitoring for recovery-theme stocks today, given the resumption of business activities as well as optimism following positive developments on the COVID-19 vaccine front.

“The financial sector may expect some follow-through buying support following Public Bank’s bonus issue corporate action, while selected construction and building materials stocks may have decent trading interest given the reopening of economies, which may translate to potential dishing out of new infra contracts, ” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained four sen to RM8.42, Public Bank chalked up 12 sen to RM19.98, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.59.

Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM7.65, and Tenaga eased four sen to RM10.60.

Among the actives, AirAsia X perked 1.5 sen to 10 sen, Metronic added one sen to 12 sen, Trive was flat at 1.5 sen, while G Capital trimmed 3.5 sen to 90 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 21.14 points higher at 11,895.72, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 19.81 points to 11,895.72, and the FBM ACE soared 188.04 points to 11,128.18.

The FBM 70 increased 14.48 points to 15,301.95 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index earned 21.27 points to 13,527.7.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.09 of-a-point to 176.3, the Financial Services Index rose 25.8 points to 15,083.71, while the Plantation Index slipped 7.46 points to 7,353.56.–BERNAMA

Source: NST