Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher On Healthcare, Property Buying
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia extended its gains to open higher on Tuesday, supported by continued buying interest in selected heavyweight counters, particularly in the healthcare and property sectors, despite the weaker overnight performance on Wall Street.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.41 points to 1,700.85 from Monday’s close of 1,698.44, after opening 1.25 points higher at 1,699.69.
Market breadth was negative, with decliners outnumbering gainers 209 to 140. A total of 266 counters were unchanged, 2,702 untraded, and 22 suspended.
Turnover was 211.28 million shares worth RM86.17 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee Shen Pin said Wall Street fell as tension between the US and Iran escalated, with US President Donald Trump declaring a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
As a result, crude oil prices spiked, with Brent crude jumping to US$83 per barrel.
He noted that the FBM KLCI maintained its climb to nearly the 1,700 mark yesterday, as bargain-hunting activity continues, especially in plantation-related stocks.
“We also noticed a trickling of foreign funds back into the local bourse of late, thus we expect the index to trend within the 1,690-1,705 range today,” he said in a note.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank and CIMB fell two sen to RM10.92 and RM7.67, respectively. Public Bank added one sen to RM4.93, and Sunway Healthcare added two sen to RM1.97.
Among active stocks, Tanco increased 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen, Velesto lost 2.5 sen to 26 sen, Vinvest Capital fell 1.5 sen to 1.5 sen, while Epicon and Kinergy were flat at 16.5 sen and 38.5 sen, respectively.
Among the top gainers, Fraser & Neave garnered 44 sen to RM29.38, Petronas Chemicals rose 24 sen to RM4.59, United Plantations increased 18 sen to RM35.20, while Concrete Engineering gained 17 sen to RM3.74.
Malaysian Pacific Industries led the losers, falling 52 sen to RM43.78. UWC, Pentamaster and Unisem slid nine sen each to RM4.51, RM4.43 and RM4.43, while Infomina was seven sen weaker at RM1.37.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index strengthened 10.52 points to 12,556.48, the FBMT Top 100 Index inched up 12.44 points to 12,399.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index grew 18.95 points to 12,416.34.
The FBM Mid 70 Index contracted 17.63 points to 17,808.72, and the FBM ACE Index weakened 37.34 points to 4,827.67.
By sector, the Financial Services Index slipped 1.25 points to 20,018.82, the Plantation Index perked 24.87 points to 9,412.39, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.57 points to 185.09, while the Energy Index declined 2.03 points to 771.26.
-- BERNAMA