BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened firmly above the 1,600 level as strong market sentiment persists in line with overnight Wall Street’s upbeat performance.

At 9.12 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.18 per cent or 3.02 points to 1,618.34 from Monday's close of 1,615.32. The benchmark index opened 0.64 of a point firmer at 1,615.96.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 252 to 188, with 388 counters unchanged, 1,575 untraded and six suspended.

Turnover stood at 426.48 million units worth RM231.72 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Wall Street ended higher supported by the gains among heavyweight technology stocks as jobs data indicated a softening in the economy, raising hopes among investors for an earlier rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

With US technology giants regaining traction, the brokerage believes buying interest may spill over to local technology stocks.

“Data centre growth and the potential of the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail announcement will fuel investor interest in the construction, property, building materials, and renewable energy sectors.

“Given a weaker US dollar environment, traders may take the opportunity to look at commodity sectors such as oil and gas, gold and plantation as their underlying prices have trended higher overnight,” it said in a note.

Bursa heavyweight stocks Maybank was flat at RM10.02, and Tenaga Nasional and CIMB rose two sen each to RM14.20 and RM6.98, respectively. Public Bank added three sen to RM4.08 and IHH Healthcare gained one sen to RM6.34.

Among the most active counters, ACE-debutant Ocean Fresh increased 59 sen to 87 sen, and Jaks and Hextar were one sen higher at 17 sen and 27.5 sen, respectively. Siab went up 1.5 sen to 15 sen, while WCT fell 2.5 sen to 96 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index perked up 14.18 points to 12,474.92, the FBMT 100 Index increased 12.90 points to 12,041.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 3.93 points to 12,830.54 while the FBM ACE Index gained 1.23 points to 5,975.59.

The FBM 70 Index declined 15.33 points to 18,334.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 35.43 points to 17,648.34, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.51 of-a-point to 199.62. The Energy Index climbed 4.83 points to 992.91 and the Plantation Index bagged 6.31 points to 7,032.34.

-- BERNAMA