Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened on a positive note, reflecting the overnight gains seen on Wall Street, as investor sentiment was buoyed by easing oil prices, according to an analyst. By 9.42 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI had risen 9.54 points, or 0.55 percent, reaching 1,756.97 from the previous day's close of 1,747.43. The benchmark index began the day 1.65 points higher at 1,749.08 and continued to gain in early trading.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the market breadth remained positive, with 432 gainers outnumbering 275 losers. Additionally, 445 counters were unchanged, 1,480 remained untraded, and 10 were suspended. Turnover was recorded at 698.93 million shares, valued at RM441.26 million. Thong Pak Leng, Vice-President of Equity Research at Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, noted that Wall Street had closed broadly higher, with the Nasdaq and the S and P 500 reaching record highs due to upbeat earnings.
Despite the easing of Brent crude prices to approximately US$110 per barrel, Thong highlighted that the situation in West Asia remains uncertain. On the domestic front, the FBM KLCI continued its upward trajectory, nearing the 1,750 level, which marks a two-month high. He attributed this to persistent late buying of index-linked laggards by foreign funds, which has kept the local bourse supported at current levels. Thong anticipates the index to fluctuate between the 1,740 and 1,760 range throughout the day.
In terms of individual stocks, heavyweights such as Maybank, Public Bank, and Tenaga Nasional each increased by four sen, reaching RM11.24, RM4.79, and RM14.84, respectively. CIMB saw an increase of nine sen, rising to RM7.98, while IHH Healthcare remained unchanged at RM8.83. Among the most active stocks, Manforce Group decreased by three sen to 35 sen, GIIB Holdings dropped 1.5 sen to 17 sen, Jentayu Sustainables increased by half-a-sen to 29.5 sen, and Zetrix AI remained unchanged at 86.5 sen.
Top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which surged RM2.44 to RM39.94, KESM Industries, which rose 22 sen to RM4.67, Unisem, which gained 18 sen to RM3.68, and Vitrox Corp, which added 16 sen to RM5.76. Conversely, among the top losers, Nestle fell by 20 sen to RM101.50, Fraser and Neave Holdings declined by 16 sen to RM29.40, Petronas Chemicals lost 10 sen to RM5.82, and PJBumi slid by seven sen to RM3.22.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 66.93 points to 12,954.27, the FBM Top 100 Index added 68.60 points to 12,800.22, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 51.99 points to 12,918.54, the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 94.41 points to 18,636.89, and the FBM ACE Index edged up 8.36 points to 4,609.43. Sector-wise, the Energy Index slipped by 2.02 points to 833.61, and the Plantation Index fell by 8.14 points to 8,999.06. The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.06 of-a-point to 197.73, while the Financial Services Index rose by 133.97 points to 20,268.30.