KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): Bursa Malaysia was broadly higher in early trade today as bargain hunting emerged following yesterday’s heavy selling.
In tandem with the uptrend in the regional peers, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.41 points to 1,561.12 as at 9.07am against Thursday’s close of 1,555.71.
The index opened 0.45 of-a-point better at 1,556.16.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 215 to 143, while 264 counters were unchanged, 1,607 untraded and 37 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 268.39 million units worth RM102.47 million.
Yesterday, the government announced it had approved the licence and incentives for Risen Energy Co Ltd of China to manufacture solar cells and solar modules in Malaysia with a projected investment of RM42.2 billion.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said this would make the country an integrated production hub for solar products.
“We expect the development of the solar modules in Malaysia and the increasing demand for green energy would shine a light on the solar-related counters.
“Besides, investors may put the oil and gas stocks on radar as the oil price stood firmly above US$75 per barrel,” it said.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.21, Public Bank and Tenaga gained three sen each to RM4.21 and RM9.90 respectively, and CIMB increased five sen to RM4.75.
PetChem lost six sen to RM7.94 while IHH was flat at RM5.61.
Among the actives, MMAG inched up half-a-sen to 17 sen, KNM and Tanco were flat at 16.5 sen and 15 sen respectively, Serba Dinamik eased two sen to 51.5 sen, and HB Global slipped one sen to 38 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 32.66 points higher at 11,358.3, the FBMT 100 Index increased 32.46 points to 11,065.24, the FBM ACE gained 2.65 points to 7,356.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 25.95 points to 12,393.57, and the FBM 70 advanced 20.27 points to 14,685.26.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 48.56 points higher at 15,340.07, the Industrial Products and Services Index was flat at 187.14, and the Plantation Index trimmed 0.75 of-a-point to 6,516.32.-BERNAMA