Malaysian Stock Market Broadly Higher In Early Trade

KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (Bernama) – The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) was broadly higher across the board on Friday morning, joining Wall Street’s bullish bandwagon, as Thursday’s buying momentum on the back of improved market sentiment continued to boost investors’ risk appetite. At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 7.61 points firmer at 1,711.18 from Thursday's close of 1,703.57. The barometer index opened 7.1 points higher at 1,710.67. On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 196 to 63, while 1,519 counters were unchanged, 1,519 untraded and 19 others suspended. Volume stood at 155.04 million units valued at RM83.06 million. Maybank IB Research Analyst Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah said the local bourse would perform higher today in tandem with the overnight Wall Street, which ended higher on easing trade tensions. However, he anticipated profit taking could accelerate ahead of the weekend break. “Technically, we expect FBMKLCI to trade between 1,695 and 1,730 today. Downside supports are at 1,658 and 1,630,” he said in a note today. Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.52, Public Bank rose six sen to RM23.06, Tenaga perked 10 sen to RM14.58, Petronas Chemicals increased 14 sen to RM8.67, but CIMB slipped one sen to RM5.62. Among actives, MRCB eased one sen to 73 sen, SKH Consortium added one sen to eight sen, George Kent bagged 15 sen to RM1.44, while Nova MSC inched down half-a-sen to 18.5 sen. Nestle (M) was the biggest gainer in the opening session, bagging 50 sen to RM148.50, while Top Glove topped the losers list in losing 13 sen to RM9.77. The FBM Emas Index was 46.03 points higher at 12,060.92, the FBMT 100 Index increased 42.14 points to 11,861.47 and the FBM 70 garnered 11.38 points to 14,630.82. The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 60.73 points to 12,156.07 and the FBM Ace Index bagged 25.79 points to 5,343.53. Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 17.22 points to 16,929.19, the Industrial Index gained 9.16 points to 3,158.87, and the Plantation Index improved 27.33 points to 7,517.09. -- BERNAMA