Bursa opens mixed on higher crude oil prices, bargain-hunting

Bursa opens mixed on higher crude oil prices, bargain-hunting

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened mixed this morning amid higher crude oil prices and continued bargain-hunting activities.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved by 1.43 points to 1,428.47 from last Friday’s closing of 1,427.04.The main index opened 0.85 points higher at 1,427.89.
However, the market breadth was negative as decliners surpassed gainers 137 to 119, while 249 counters were unchanged, 1,712 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 162.62 million units worth RM54.07 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng, believes that the market undertone will stay positive, supported by the resurgence of foreign buying, improving local economy and undemanding valuations of the FBM KLCI.
“Hence we reckon bargain-hunting will continue with the index hovering between 1,425 and 1,440 today,” he said.
As the Brent crude oil remained high at above US$81 (RM357.13) per barrel, he expected the accumulation of oil and gas stocks to continue.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 3 sen to RM8.69, CIMB ticked up 2 sen to RM5.18 and Public Bank grew 1 sen to RM4, while Petronas Chemicals declined 13 sen to RM7.37 sen and TNB lost 5 sen to RM9.18.
As for the actives, Salutica expanded 7.5 sen to 63 sen and Careplus gained 0.5 sen to 36 sen, while Techna-X, Jade Marvel and Tanco inched down 0.5 sen each to 1.5 sen, 31 sen and 47 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 5.81 points to 10,484.25, the FBMT 100 Index earned 9.68 points to 10,170.72 and the FBM 70 Index rose 29.55 points to 13,668.29, while the FBM ACE Index was 4.72 points lower at 5,321.96 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 2.53 points to 10,820.13.
Sector-wise, the financial services index advanced 36.71 points to 15,737.98, the industrial products and services index inched down 0.66 of-a-point to 174.09 and the plantation index increased 28.18 points to 6,759.85, while the energy index lessened 0.45 of-a-point to 863.06.