Bursa Malaysia opens higher on overnight Wall Street gains

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking the firmer Wall Street overnight as investors reacted positively to news of more Covid-19 stimulus efforts from the United States government.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) perked 4.61 points, or 0.29 per cent to 1,596.09 from 1,591.48 at yesterday's close.

The key index opened 3.16 points higher at 1,594.64 at 9 am.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 323 to 127, while 287 counters were unchanged, 1,272 untraded and 28 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 833.02 million worth RM319.81 million.

With the overnight Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 115 points to almost the 26,600-mark, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said that boded well for the local stock market.

“Locally, the FBM KLCI is likely to continue to be well supported by domestic buying, and it is expected to stay solid with the benchmark index seen to oscillate between 1,590 and 1,600 today,” it said in a note today.

Separately, Public Investment Bank Bhd anticipated the key index to remain choppy and trend sideways between the 1,580 and 1,600 marks with a slight bearish bias, should the selling force ensue amid accelerating downward momentum.

“Support levels for the index are at 1,515, 1,550 and 1,580, while the resistance levels are at 1600, 1,610 and 1,622.

“On the broader market, traders are expected to nibble on weaknesses in telecommunication and media as well as transportation and logistics sectors as they rotate trading positions,” it said in a note today.

On heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM7.84, Tenaga inched up four sen to RM11.34, Hartalega was 12 sen higher at RM18.42 while Public Bank was unchanged at RM17.52.

Top Glove, however, slipped 12 sen to RM25.76 and emerged as the top loser on the local bourse.

XOX was the most actively traded equity in the morning session, advancing 3.5 sen to 28 sen, Borneo Oil edged up half-a-sen to five sen, Key Alliance increased one sen to 10 sen, Managepay was 3.5 sen firmer at 13.5 sen while DGB was unchanged at 6.5 sen.

Top gainers list was led by plantation counters, namely United Plantations which bagged 38 sen to RM13.92, Genting Plantations strengthened 28 sen to RM10.28 and KLK accumulated 20 sen to RM24.08.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 45.10 points to 11,368.11, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 38.72 points to 11,198.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 60.72 points firmer at 13,285.58.

The FBM 70 lifted 75.12 points to 14,414.54 and the FBM ACE was 93.30 points higher at 8,357.47.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened 75.57 points to 7,237.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index eked out 0.58 of-a-point to 140.70 while the Financial Services Index added 23.38 points to 13,381.46. — Bernama