KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on Tuesday despite Wall Street’s mixed overnight performance, as investors may be rotating out of technology stocks ahead of the US interest rate cut next month.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 1.99 points to 1,640.95 from Monday’s close of 1,638.96.
The index opened 0.20 of-a-point higher at 1,639.16.
On the broader market, losers edged past gainers 156 to 152, while 222 counters were unchanged, 1,996 untraded, and 25 suspended.
Turnover reached 95.39 million units valued at RM59.48 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said trading on the local bourse remains lacklustre despite the FBM KLCI closing on a positive note at almost the 1,640 mark yesterday.
“Buying of blue chips continued with the inflow of foreign funds, possibly taking advantage of the appreciating ringgit which strengthened to an almost two-year high at RM4.35 against the US dollar.
As such, we expect the index to hover within the 1,635-1,645 range today, he added.
Meanwhile, Thong noted that the escalating conflict in the Middle East saw crude oil prices rising, with Brent crude oil jumping above US$81 per barrel.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank, CIMB and IHH were all flat at RM10.54, RM4.51, RM7.89 and RM6.31, respectively, while Tenaga gained four sen to RM13.96.
As for the most active counters, Velesto inched up half-a-sen to 22 sen, Elridge bagged 1.5 sen to 46.5 sen, MMAG increased one sen to 33 sen and PBA added 32 sen to RM2.12, while Top Glove eased one sen to 95 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index grew 16.50 points to 12,368.81, the FBMT 100 Index increased 15.32 points to 12,047.84, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened by 21.50 points to 12,314.11. The FBM 70 Index improved 25.22 points to 17,750.80 and the FBM ACE Index added 21.93 points to 5,229.10.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 21.33 points to 7,243.71, the Energy Index advanced 10.84 points to 946.28, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.09 of-a-point to 182.98, and the Financial Services Index firmed by 3.43 points to 19,044.30.
