KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher today as investors viewed US President Donald Trump’s speech positively.
At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI stood at 1,706.44, up 8.75 points, from yesterday’s close of 1,697.69. The index opened 3.45 points higher at 1,701.14.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 244 to 38 while 187 counters remained unchanged, 1,227 untraded and 15 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 177.25 million shares worth RM72.56 million.
A dealer said in the absence of negative surprises in Trump’s speech, the market expected short-term buying interest to prevail.
Meanwhile, TA Securities said the overnight rally on Wall Street should spillover to the local market, but profit-taking could still cap near-term upside.
“Better supports for the index are at 1,690 and 1,672 while immediate resistance stays at 1,719,” it said.
Of heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank gained 10 sen each to RM8.72 and RM20.40, respectively, TNB added four sen to RM13.58, Sime Darby improved six sen to RM9.10 and Petronas Chemicals increased nine sen tp RM7.39.
Among actives, Dagang Nexchange warrant and Frontken added one sen each to 19 sen and 24 sen, respectively, Dagang Nexchange improved half-a-sen to 43 sen but Censof Holdings shed half-a-sen to 33.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 56.30 points higher at 12,038.17, FBM Emas Shariah Index added 47.34 points to 12,477.18 and the FBMT100 Index improved 55.05 points to 11,720.89.
The FBM Ace increased 25.58 points to 5,258.72 and the FBM 70 rose 46.53 points to 14,001.95.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index increased 99.53 points to 15,187.42, the Industrial Index edged up 10 points to 3,244.60 but the plantation Index reduced 7.99 points to 8,070.68. — Bernama
