KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, extending last week’s gains as investors tracked Wall Street’s upbeat close on Friday.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.78 points to 1,607.25 from Friday’s close of 1,597.47.
The benchmark index had opened 5.35 points firmer at 1,602.82.
Market breadth was positive, with 291 gainers outpacing 111 losers. Another 278 counters were unchanged, 1,924 untraded and 13 suspended.
Turnover stood at 199.12 million shares worth RM132.80 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street’s rally followed a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell that fuelled expectations of a rate cut next month.
“It seems Powell is finally yielding to mounting political pressure and will adjust rates in September. As a result, the US 10-year yield eased to 4.25 per cent,” he told Bernama.
Domestically, Thong noted the FBM KLCI briefly breached the 1,600 mark before settling at 1,597 last week.
“Judging from recent buying support by local institutions, we believe the index should break the 1,600 threshold with ease. As such, we expect it to hover in the 1,600–1,620 range today,” he added.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank gained 7.0 sen to RM9.87, Public Bank added 1.0 sen to RM4.48, Tenaga Nasional rose 10 sen to RM13.66 and IHH Healthcare advanced 3.0 sen to RM6.87, while CIMB Group was flat at RM7.46.
On the actively traded list, Mtouch Tech edged up 1.0 sen to 5.5 sen. Zetrix AI and NEXG climbed 1.5 sen each to 88.5 sen and 47.5 sen, respectively.
Magma Group slipped 4.5 sen to 26.5 sen, while Oxfort Innotech eased 2.0 sen to 44.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 71.41 points to 11,905.97, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 73.09 points to 11,684.26, the FBM Emas Shariah Index surged 90.08 points to 11,851.50, the FBM 70 Index jumped 113.32 points to 16,669.72 and the FBM ACE Index added 17.01 points to 4,760.63.
By sector, the Financial Services Index gained 66.28 points to 18,289.24, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.30 of-a-point to 165.63, the Energy Index improved 3.44 points to 752.38 and the Plantation Index rose 47.84 points to 7,656.23.
