KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): Bursa Malaysia recovered to open higher on Friday as investors sought out bargains in mainly energy and technology stocks.
The market also received a boost from the bullish overnight Wall Street, which saw the Dow rallied 1.6%.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 3.89 points to 1,596.41 from 1,592.52 at Thursday’s close.
The bellwether index opened 2.65 points firmer at 1,595.17.
Market breadth was positive with losers leading gainers 287 to 139, while 282 counters were unchanged, 1,581 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 204.06 million units worth RM116.09 million.
Malacca Securities said the earnings season kicked off with a string of better-than-expected results, and the weekly jobless claims of 293,000 last week was the lowest since March 2020, bolstering the US stock markets.
“Tracking the strong gains from Wall Street overnight, we expect local equities to gain momentum and investors could focus on the upcoming Budget 2022 beneficiaries, for which we anticipate some goodies to be revealed for the construction, telecommunications, and solar sectors,” it said in a note.
Commodity wise, the crude palm oil (CPO) price declined after surging in the previous session, while the crude oil price rebounded above the US$84 per barrel mark.
It said the pullback in CPO price and plantation counters may offer buying opportunities in the sector, considering the higher demand and tight supply situation, while the firmer crude oil price should bode well for the energy sector, and technology stocks may track the overnight rally in Nasdaq.
Of the heavyweights, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd gained five sen to RM6.25, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose four sen to RM8.80, Axiata Group Bhd bagged three sen to RM4.04, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was two sen higher at RM5.14.
Petronas Gas Bhd added 10 sen to RM17.10 and Public Bank Bhd increased one sen to RM4.20.
Among the actives, Aco Group Bhd advanced 2.5 sen to 35 sen, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd was flat at 38.5 sen, China Ouhua Winery Holdings Ltd fell one sen to 9.5 sen, and NWP Holdings Bhd was one sen better at 30.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 41.19 points to 11,751.35, the FBMT 100 Index increased 32.34 points to 11,383, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 50.79 points to 12,859.38, the FBM 70 ticked up 61.84 points to 15,371.91, and the FBM ACE firmed 63.39 points to 7,224.75.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 27.3 points to 15,683.23, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.26 points to 213.42, and the Plantation Index expanded 20.29 points to 7,017.14.-BERNAMA