KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia open range-bound in early trading today on mix external sentiments, dealers said.
At 9.14am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,818.24, up 0.07 points, after opening 0.49 points higher at 1,818.66.
HwangDBS Vickers Research said major US equity indices rebounded by between 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent at the closing bell yesterday, driven by better-than-expected February 2014 US leading indicators, which rose by the largest amount in three months, and higher manufacturing activities.
The research house said this, however, was mixed with on-going concerns of sanctions against Russia by the United States.
“However, the positive sentiments ahead of signs of an improving US economy may drive our local bourse towards its immediate resistance level of 1,825,” the research firm said in a note.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index added 0.33 of a point to 16,410.97, the Plantation Index gained 19.09 points to 8,863.99 but the Industrial Index lost 10.01 points to 3,152.56.
The FBM Emas Index was up 3.1 points to 12,596.17, the FBMT100 Index improved 1.359 points to 12,261.89, the FBM 70 firmed 4.96 points to 13,819.51 and the FBM Ace perked 40.47 points to 6,626.7.
Gainers led losers 154 to 83 while 142 counters were unchanged, 1,243 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 102.07 million shares worth RM59.17 million.
Among actives, Flonic Hi-Tec earned half-a-sen to nine sen, Fitters Diversified gained two sen to 92.5 sen and MMS Ventures added one sen to 25.5 sen.
Metronic Global and Ingenuity were flat at 10 sen and 10.5 sen, respectively.
As for heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.54, while TNB and CIMB were flat at RM11.96 and RM7.10, respectively.
Sime Darby lost five sen to RM9.15 and Axiata shed two sen to RM6.50, respectively. — Bernama
