Bursa Malaysia Opens Firmer, Breaks Above 1,700 On Improved Risk Appetite

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia was firmer in early trade, surpassing the 1,700 mark, tracking positive Wall Street performance overnight, supported by improving regional risk appetite and continued foreign fund participation.

At 9.27 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.38 points to 1,701.82 from Monday’s close of 1,695.44, after opening 5.30 points higher at 1,700.74.

The index surpassed its previous peak of 1,700.76 recorded on March 3, 2019.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 266 to 240. Some 352 counters were unchanged, 1,780 were untraded, and 12 suspended. Turnover stood at 491.64 million shares valued at RM309.56 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended positively as traders preferred to ignore US President Donald Trump’s criminal probe on US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell, coupled with his call to cap credit card rate at 10 per cent for one year.

While the criminal probe will have a long-term impact on the Fed’s independence, the 10 per cent cap will certainly have adverse impacts on bank earnings moving forward, he added.

Back home, Thong said the FBM KLCI maintained its outstanding performance to close just below the 1,700 level yesterday. He attributed this to net foreign funds buying, albeit sporadically.

“Nonetheless, we believe the flight of foreign funds to continue, hence expect the index to trend between the 1,690-1,710 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank gained 12 sen to RM11.06, Public Bank increased four sen to RM4.63, CIMB added six sen to RM8.27, Tenaga Nasional jumped 10 sen to RM13.70, while IHH fell three sen to RM8.52.

On the most active list, MMAG inched up half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, Semico bagged 22 sen to 47 sen, IJM improved 12 sen to RM2.87, but Ingenieur and VS Industry were half-a-sen lower at 3.5 sen and 48.5 sen, respectively.

Among top gainers, RHB Bank added 13 sen to RM8.03, UMS Integration bagged 11 sen to RM3.97, Hong Leong Financial Group improved 10 sen to RM20.18, Hume Cement and SHL advanced six sen each to RM3.55 and RM2.27, respectively.

Top decliners saw Malaysian Pacific’s 22 sen drop to RM32.76, Nestle lost 20 sen to RM119.80, Petronas Gas slipped 16 sen to RM18.26, Sunway decreased 15 sen to RM5.45, and Sunway Construction reduced 14 sen to RM6.03.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index added 38.44 points to 12,569.21, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 41.36 points to 12,360.95, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was flat at 12,316.87.

The FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 36.55 points to 17,593.74, while the FBM ACE Index decreased 1.98 points to 5,002.80.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 170.26 points to 20,356.52, the Energy Index lost 2.05 points to 782.42, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.25 of-a-point to 172.72, and the Plantation Index decreased 7.47 points to 8,652.81.

-- BERNAMA