KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 ― Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, buoyed by continued bargain hunting amidst mixed Wall Street performance overnight.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.52 points to 1,598.27 from yesterday's close of 1,593.75.
The barometer index opened 4.64 points firmer at 1,598.39.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 199 versus 147, while 262 counters were unchanged, 1,665 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Total turnover stood at 250.01 million worth RM82.06 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said technology stocks are likely to retract from recent gains following Nasdaq’s weaker performance.
“Nevertheless, traders could monitor other catalysts like the reopening of borders, elevated commodity prices as well as recovering construction activities for trading purposes,” the firm said in a note today.
On commodities, it said crude oil price hovered above the US$105 per barrel-mark, while crude palm oil futures (FCPO) price remained supported at above RM6,300 per tonne.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Press Metal added two sen to RM8.82, RM4.67 and RM6.57, respectively, IHH Healthcare gained one sen to RM6.53, while Petronas Chemicals lost two sen to RM10.28.
Of the actives, Vizione inched up 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen while its warrant was flat at 2.5 sen, Fitters slid one sen to 13 sen, Techna-X lost half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and OCR was flat at 13 sen.
On the index board, FBMT 100 Index added 27.72 points to 11,122.01, FBM Emas Index was 27.22 points firmer at 11,477.20, FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 19.27 points to 12,150.84, FBM 70 perked 19.41 points to 13,841.53, while FBM ACE shrank 31.24 points to 5,778.65.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.22 of-a-point to 215.40, the Financial Services Index expanded 64.58 points to 16,642.98, and the Plantation Index bagged 33.57 points to 8,640.95. ― Bernama
