KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, with buying interest in selected heavyweights led by IHH Healthcare amid concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in the country, an analyst said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 3.77 points to 1,519.76 from 1,515.99 at Thursday’s close, after opening 2.26 points higher at 1,518.25.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 142 to 105, while 205 counters were unchanged, 1,816 untraded and 73 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 788.48 million units worth RM40.11 million.
An analyst said the new Covid-19 infections in Malaysia, which continued to show an upward trend for the third day in a row with over 5,000 cases reported on Thursday, could have prompted buying support for healthcare stocks. The stock of IHH Healthcare increased 1.72 per cent or 11 sen to RM6.49.
On the other hand, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said three major indices on Wall Street ended weaker as early gains were wiped out towards the closing and sellers took the opportunity to lock in profits on the uptrend.
“Broad market sentiments remain jittery and we expect such volatility to stay amid the US Federal Reserves imminent rate increase.
“As for the local bourse, we believe the index would be stuck within the 1,505-1.520 range today due to lack of strong catalysts,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.30, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.22, Petronas Chemicals advanced six sen to RM8.96, and CIMB improved two sen to RM5.27.
As for the actives, Dagang Nexchange rose half-a-sen to 92.5 sen, while Top Builders fell one sen to 2.5 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum shed half-a-sen to 96.5 sen.
On the index board, FBM ACE slid 6.97 points to 5,991.40, FBM 70 improved 52.25 points to 13,400.48, FBM Emas Index firmed 29.60 points to 10,901.71, FBMT 100 Index gained 29.70 points to 10,612.70, and FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 32.13 points to 11,578.79.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 38.14 points to 15,802.26, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.70 of-a-point better at 200.25, while the Plantation Index slipped 7.99 points to 6,624.19. — Bernama
