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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as investor sentiment improved on hopes of easing US-China trade tensions and a more consistent tone from US President Donald Trump.
At 9.27am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.60 points to 1,502.79 from Wednesday’s close of 1,501.19.
The benchmark index had opened 0.64 of-a-point lower at 1,500.55.
Market breadth was positive, with 263 gainers outpacing 180 decliners. A total of 301 counters were unchanged, while 1,671 were untraded and 13 suspended.
Turnover stood at 416.74 million shares, valued at RM195.14 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said sentiment appeared to be buoyed by the slight decline in the US 10-year Treasury yield, which eased to 4.385%.
“At this juncture, it seems like ‘no news is good news’,” he noted.
“Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s market held firm and climbed above the 22,000 mark as sentiment improved on expectations that Trump may soften his stance on China and could even lower the existing 145% tariff substantially,” he added.
Back home, Thong said it remained to be seen whether the FBM KLCI’s position above the 1,500 level is sustainable, though he is hopeful the index could soon re-test the 1,530 mark.
“Notwithstanding this, daily trading volume remains subdued at below 3.0 billion shares. As such, we expect market sentiment to stay cautious, with the index likely to trend within the 1,500–1,515 range today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM9.99, Tenaga Nasional rose two sen to RM13.52, and CIMB Group gained six sen to RM6.91. However, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare eased three sen each to RM4.37 and RM6.83, respectively.
In active trade, SFP Tech rose 2.5 sen to 23 sen, Digistar edged up one sen to 5.5 sen, while Richtech slipped two sen to 25 sen. Velesto Energy and My E.G. Services added half-a-sen each to 15 sen and 89.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 14.91 points to 11,136.51, the FBMT 100 Index rose 13.94 points to 10,916.70, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 11.68 points to 10,958.32. The FBM 70 Index climbed 29.01 points to 15,579.89, while the FBM ACE Index recovered 8.92 points to 4,611.61.
Across sectors, the Financial Services Index strengthened 41.71 points to 17,979.92, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.10 of-a-point to 145.29, and the Energy Index added 1.45 points to 663.18. The Plantation Index, however, slipped 2.68 points to 7,211.81.

MatchPoint Times

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