Malaysia Stock Market Opens Higher

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia stock market (Bursa Malaysia) opened higher Thursday, tracking the trend on regional bourses as well as the stronger Wall Street following the release of the Federal Reserve System's (Fed) minutes on Wednesday, dealers said. At 9.11 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.58 points higher at 1,773.59 from Wednesday's close of 1,771.01. The index opened 3.29 points higher at 1,774.30 at 9 am. Gainers led losers 200 to 167 while 237 counters remained unchanged with 1,177 untraded and 28 others were suspended. Turnover stood at 274.12 million shares worth RM145.68 million. A dealer said Wall Street continued to progress after the Fed meeting's minutes signalled a gradual approach to interest rate increases and suggested that it would scale back its US$4.5 trillion balance sheet. Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank said, the local bourse could see another short-term gain following the feel-good mood from the overnight overseas markets. “However, we opine that the FBM KLCI's upside will be limited around the 1,780-1,790 level as traders may be still deploying selling-into-strength strategy after the recent profit-taking was noticed across the small-capitalised stocks and lower-liners,” it said. Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.37, Sime Darby gained two sen to RM9.34, while TNB, Public Bank and Petronas Chemical were flat at RM13.82, RM20.08 and RM7.43, respectively. Of the actives, Inta Bina improved five sen to 30 sen, DRB Hicom gained six sen to RM1.74, AirAsia X added half-a-sen to 45.5 sen, Ho Wah Genting eased half-a-sen to six sen and Globaltec was flat six sen. The FBM Emas Index was 15.19 points higher at 12,689.75, FBMT 100 Index gained 15.86 points to 12,311.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 2.89 points to 12,992.22. The FBM Ace rose 11.16 points to 6,566.88 and the FBM 70 was up 12.05 points to 15,198.04. Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was up 14.99 points to 8,068.82, Finance Index rose 66.42 points to 16,435.26 and the Industrial Index increased 13.61 points to 3,286.37. -- BERNAMA