KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): Bursa Malaysia continued its upward momentum at the opening today, as market sentiment was aided by the steady crude palm oil (CPO) and benchmark Brent oil prices, on the back of OPEC+ decision to gradually restore supply, said an analyst.
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.36 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,599.30 from 1,597.94 at Wednesday’s close.
The index opened 1.14 points higher at 1,599.08.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 262 to 82, while 232 counters were unchanged, 1,566 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 295.43 million units worth RM117.72 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the CPO price surged more than 5.0 per cent, while the Brent oil price stayed firmer above US$70 per barrel, as a group consisting of some of the world’s most powerful oil producers on Thursday decided to gradually curb existing output cuts beginning next month, amid stronger demand in view of the COVID-19 recovery.
“Despite the rising COVID-19 cases, we expect the full movement control order (FMCO) and acceleration of vaccination rollouts should eventually translate to market players focusing in recovery theme at least for the near term.
“Hence, we reckon the stronger CPO and oil prices may bode well for the plantation and oil and gas counters on the local front,” it said in a note today.
On the recovery theme, traders may focus on essential consumer stocks and transportation and logistics, it added.
“Meanwhile, we expect some buying interest to be seen after a decent consolidation in technology stocks over the past month,” the research firm said.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose one sen each to RM8.25 and RM4.25, respectively, PetChem rose three sen to RM8.10, while CIMB and IHH fell one sen each to RM4.53 and RM5.40, respectively.
Top losers included PPB Group which shed 10 sen to RM18.58 and QL Resources which lost nine sen to RM6.03.
Top gainers included Computer Form which soared 84 sen to RM3.64, Hong Leong which added 16 sen to RM18.56 and BAT which rose 14 sen to RM14.46.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik gained 2.5 sen to 85 sen, Vortex was flat at 11 sen and Sapura Energy gained half-a-sen to 13 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 21.08 points to 11,647.95 and the FBMT 100 Index gained 17.63 points to 11,340.39.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index added 28.57 points to 12,885.64, the FBM 70 advanced 54.37 points to 15,068.25, and the FBM ACE bagged 54.58 points to 7,849.51.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index garnered 23.35 points to 15,272.75, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.59 of-a-point to 194.13, while the Plantation Index increased 5.47 points to 6,857.87.- BERNAMA