KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 ― Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher today, extending bargain hunting on selected heavyweights and broader market shares, analysts said.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.68 points to 1,553.45 from yesterday's close of 1,552.77.
The benchmark index opened 1.52 points firmer at 1,554.29.
Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers 137 to 93, with 191 counters unchanged, 1,564 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 117.89 million shares worth RM63.88 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said gains in the local bourse is expected to sustain into the end of the trading week as there is now some measure of calmness over the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) issue, assisted by the de-escalation in US-China trade war.
With calmness gradually returning, coupled with the positivity in global equities, we think there is room for further near term upsides.
“For now, we see bargain hunting activities sustaining over the near term that will help to provide the lift for the FBM KLCI to retest the 1,570 resistance level,” it said in a note today.
It was reported yesterday, that China began enrolling patients in a clinical trial of remdesivir, an antiviral medicine made by Gilead, the American pharmaceutical giant, for the illness.
The disease has killed 565 people, mostly in China and infected more than 28,000 people in over 25 countries and territories.
China also announced that it will halve additional tariffs on US$75 billion worth of US imports, as it grapples with the escalating 2019-nCoV outbreak.
Starting next week, China will cut an additional 10 per cent tariff rate it enacted back then on some goods to five per cent.
Other goods that were taxed an extra per cent will now be levied 2.5 per cent, according to a statement from China's State Council Tariff Commission.
The reduction affects US goods that China imposed tariffs last September.
Among the heavyweights, rubber related stocks, Top Glove gained five sen to RM5.67, Hartalega rose four sen to RM5.84 and Sime Darby Plantation increased two sen to RM5.21.
Maybank was flat at RM8.45, Tenaga added two sen to RM12.90 and Public Bank shed six sen to RM18.34.
Of the actives, ARB was up 3.5 sen to 31 sen, AirAsia Group bagged two sen to RM1.25 and TDM was flat at 30.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 7.67 points to 10,055.09, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 18.08 points to 11,802.67 and the FBMT 100 Index accumulated 7.50 points to 10,855.69.
The FBM 70 was 20.86 points stronger at 13,827.31 and the FBM Ace recovered 4.21 points to 5,484.74.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.40 points to 146.14, the Financial Services Index was 17.84 points higher at 14,866.98 and the Plantation Index perked 10.82 points to 7,322.21. ― Bernama
