KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher on bargain hunting following yesterday’s profit-taking activities.

At 9.27am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.08 points better at 1,591.96 from Monday’s close of 1,588.88, after opening 0.41 point higher at 1,589.29 this morning.

The overall market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was positive with gainers trouncing losers 249 to 156, while 235 counters remained unchanged, 1,347 untraded and 28 others suspended.  

Turnover amounted to 427.32 million shares worth RM201.52 million.

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A dealer said market sentiment is broadly positive currently given the improving trade sentiment across the globe as well as the resumption of big ticket infrastructure projects such as the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Line 2.

“The renewed positive sentiment has attracted fresh funds into the Malaysian equities as demonstrated by the rising trading activities, in terms of both trading volume and value,” he added.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.61, Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM7.02 while Public Bank and Tenaga were flat at RM19.48 and RM12.94.

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Among the actives, Vortex was unchanged at 10 sen, Yong Tai gained 1.5 sen to 15 sen, while TH Heavy Engineering and Xidelang added half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen and 16.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 22.60 points to 11,356.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 33.18 points to 12,032.88, the FBMT 100 Index gained 22.42 points to 11,143.50, the FBM 70 perked 32.16 points to 14,270.67, and the FBM Ace eased 2.86 points to 5,653.85.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.02 point to 153.80, the Financial Services Index was 5.96 points higher at 15,359.63 and the Plantation Index added 6.71 points to 7,496.31. — Bernama