Bursa Malaysia opens slightly higher

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By Bernama - September 6, 2021 @ 10:12am

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher today despite a flat performance on Wall Street on Friday and weakened US Treasury yields.

Investors were digesting a much-weaker-than-expected US jobs report for the world's largest economy, which added 235,000 jobs in August, far fewer than forecast, for an increase of 720,000, dealers said.

At 9.22 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.55 of a point to 1,589.74 from last Friday's close of 1,589.19

It opened 1.48 points better at 1,590.67.

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Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 328 to 262, while 362 counters were unchanged, 1,286 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 721.03 million units worth RM335.99 million.

Kenanga Research said that last week, the key FBM KLCI swung from as high as 1,605 on Wednesday to a low of 1,580 on Friday before finishing at 1,589, little changed from the prior week's close of 1,590.

From a technical perspective, after a jump of 99.4 points or 6.7 per cent in four weeks, the composite index would probably extend its consolidation pattern with a slight downward bias ahead, it said.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors might look ahead to Malaysia's unemployment rate and the Bank Negara's decision on interest rate which would be released on Thursday.

"Meanwhile, the crude palm oil (CPO) price extended its gain to close above RM4,300, the gold price rose, while the crude oil price retreated.

"Still, we expect the recovery tone for the economic activities to pick up with the decent vaccination rate at this juncture," it noted.

The brokerage said with the CPO price continuing to sustain above the RM4,300 level, investors might position in plantation counters.

"Besides, trading interest in the recovery theme sectors such as banking, construction, building materials, and consumer as well as transportation and logistics are likely to remain in tandem with the ongoing vaccination progress," it added.

Among the market heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.39, Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM8.26 and IHH Healthcare went up five sen to RM6.38, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional shed two sen each to RM4.11 and RM10.34 respectively.

Of the actives, Emico gained 10 sen to 47 sen while Vortex, Avillion and KNM edged up half-a-sen each to 8.5 sen, 13.5 sen and 28 sen, respectively. However, Bina Puri was flat at six sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 11.25 points to 11,606.23, the FBMT 100 Index was 8.48 points higher at 11,301.47, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 15.24 points to 12,709.99.

The FBM 70 increased 32.70 points to 15,132.95 while the FBM ACE declined 49.34 points to 7,202.44.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 3.53 points to 6,703.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.92 of-a-point to 200.84 but the Financial Services Index slipped 11.02 points to 15,525.75.--BERNAMA