Trading on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in the morning session today in line with the strong close of overnight trading on Wall Street last Friday.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index rose 0.93 points to 1,602.35 from 1,601.42 when it closed on Friday evening last week.
Bernama reported that the key index opened 2.17 points higher at 1,603.26 this morning.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers by 319 to 164 while 299 counters were unchanged, 1,450 untraded and 51 others suspended.
Turnover was 381.73 billion shares worth RM163.57 billion.
According to Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, local market sentiment is likely to boost the positive movement last Friday on the back of performance on Wall Street, but continued political developments will limit the upside potential on the local bourse.
Meanwhile, oil prices may improve amid concerns about obstructions in the waters of the Suez Canal that could potentially cause some supply disruptions.
“This is even more so when market traders will focus on delivery rates in the near future.
"We think oil and gas counters could attract buying interest, while the shipping industry may be more cautious as the market will start speculating on higher shipping rates in the near term," the research firm said in a note today.
Apart from that, the firm added that traders will also do business at vaccine-related counters as the Covid-19 vaccination program is running smoothly in the country.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM8.27 and RM4.21, Petronas Chemicals rose six sen to RM7.96, TNB added eight sen to RM10.88, Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM18. 78, IHH Healthcare dropped six sen to RM5.35, CIMB fell one sen to RM4.43 and Top Glove dropped four sen to RM5.11.
For active counters, Straits Inter Logistics rose three sen to 26.5 sen, Widad was 2.5 sen higher at 16.5 sen, Eastern & Oriental rose three sen to 61.5 sen, Minda Global strengthened 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, Teladan Setia rose one sen to 64 sen and MMAG declined 1.5 sen to 34 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 24.01 points to 11,802.3, FBM 70 added 54.75 points to 15,605.21, FBMT 100 added 15.42 points to 11,459.4, FBM ACE jumped 31.32 points to 10,549.43 and FBM Emas Syariah rose 18.32 points to 13,096.48.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 54.62 points to 15,354.91, the Plantation Index was 5.79 points higher to 7,106.24 while the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.63 points to 192.04.
