Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Monday, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surpassing the critical 1,600 level, driven by positive sentiment from Wall Street. At 9.05 am, the FBM KLCI was up 2.86 points at 1,601.09, following last Friday's close of 1,598.23. The benchmark index had started the day slightly higher at 1,599.78.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth was positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 183 to 118. Furthermore, 273 counters remained unchanged, 2,075 were untraded, and 24 were suspended. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, noted that sentiment improved due to a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with the US Federal Reserve's recent easing measures.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd projected that the KLCI would trade on a firmer footing amid a narrowing US-Malaysia interest rate differential. The firm also mentioned that the positive sentiment on the Nasdaq might spill over into local technology stocks soon.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM9.83, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.25, Tenaga Nasional gained six sen to RM13.44, CIMB Group climbed RM7.25, and IHH Healthcare inched up six sen to RM7.39. In active trade, NexG strengthened one sen to 50 sen, PA Resources and Vetece Holdings rose half a sen to 16 sen and 28.5 sen respectively, while VS Industry and TA Win Holdings remained unchanged at 59.5 sen and 1.5 sen.
Top gainers included Allianz Malaysia, which recouped 20 sen to RM18.94, Malaysian Pacific Industries, up 14 sen to RM29.26, KESM Industries, up nine sen to RM3.13, Heitech Padu, up eight sen to RM4.49, and Gamuda, up five sen to RM5.57. On the other hand, top losers included Petronas Dagangan, which fell 60 sen to RM22.40, Dutch Lady Milk Industries, down 22 sen to RM27.16, United Plantations, down 12 sen to RM23, Frontken Corp, down seven sen to RM4.29, and PPB Group, down six sen to RM10.14.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index added 17.67 points to 11,914.10, the FBMT 100 Index rose 16.09 points to 11,663.40, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 13.05 points to 11,976.42. The FBM 70 Index climbed 2.61 points to 16,746.02, while the FBM ACE Index gained 11.02 points to 4,926.45.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.23 of-a-point to 168.34, the Plantation Index advanced 14.08 points to 7,758.42, the Energy Index gained 0.17 of-a-point to 755.49, and the Financial Services Index rose 32.76 points to 18,036.06.