KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, lifted by gains in banking heavyweights such as Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,748.97, up 1.97 points, from yesterday’s close of 1,747.00.
Earlier, the index opened 1.15 points higher at 1,748.15.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 193 to 114 with 245 counters unchanged, 1,177 untraded and 24 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 345.11 million shares worth RM94.5 million.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said the benchmark index would likely extend its sideways consolidation within the 1,758 and 1,738 points territory, as the market was overbought.
“Sentiment on Bursa Malaysia will remain vigilant as a long-awaited profit-taking consolidation should follow, which is welcomed, as it is healthy for the market to consolidate recent strong gains and rebuild support for uptrend resumption ahead,” it said in a note.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM9.02 and RM19.98, respectively, while CIMB added five sen to RM5.65.
Other heavyweights, TNB, Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM13.72, RM9.50 and RM7.51, respectively.
Of actively-traded stocks, EA Holdings gained 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, XOX was one sen better at 11 sen and Sterling Progress was unchanged at 21.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index increased 12.12 points to 12,393.23, FBMT 100 Index was 12.89 points higher at 12,044.53 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 1.35 points to 12,798.27.
The FBM 70 was 12.93 points better at 14,507.88 and the FBM Ace improved 33.11 points to 5,809.66.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 5.36 points to 8,185.8, the Finance Index advanced 37.88 points to 15,805.79 and the Industrial Index garnered 7.27 points to 3,287.3. — Bernama
