Bursa malaysia: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Friday, buoyed by selective heavyweight buying, despite cautious sentiment stemming from Wall Street's weaker overnight performance. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased by 1.82 points to 1,614.11 from the previous day's close of 1,612.29, after beginning 1.40 points higher at 1,613.69.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth was negative, with 239 decliners surpassing 129 gainers. Additionally, 311 counters remained unchanged, 2,003 were untraded, and 18 were suspended. The turnover was recorded at 172.58 million shares worth RM107.37 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, noted that the FBM KLCI remained well supported at current levels. He mentioned that the benchmark index had closed marginally higher the previous day, despite ongoing foreign selling. He also highlighted that the local bourse is expected to stay within the 1,610-1,620 range ahead of the upcoming long weekend.
Thong further pointed out that Wall Street had closed broadly lower overnight due to renewed concerns about regional banks and the potential rise in bad loans, indicating possible challenges within the banking sector.
In terms of individual stocks, among heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM9.93, Tenaga Nasional increased by four sen to RM13.22, and IHH Healthcare advanced by seven sen to RM8.11. Public Bank saw a slight decline of one sen to RM4.21, while CIMB Group remained unchanged at RM7.34.
Active trading saw Salutica rise by five sen to 25.5 sen, L and P Global increase by two sen to 15.5 sen, Propel Global up 1.5 sen to nine sen, and Niche Capital Emas edging up one sen to 15 sen. Dagang Nexchange remained flat at 28 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle, which rose by 90 sen to RM105.60, Tomei Consolidated up by 14 sen to RM2.12, Gas Malaysia and PGF Capital each adding nine sen to RM4.60 and RM1.84, respectively, and Sunway Construction climbing by six sen to RM6.05.
In contrast, among the top losers, Petronas Gas decreased by 20 sen to RM18.80, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell by 14 sen to RM29.46, and Frontken eased by 10 sen to RM4.68. Meanwhile, MI Technovation and Genting Bhd both declined by six sen to RM2.89 and RM3.41, respectively.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index added 2.19 points to 11,806.02, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 0.39 of a point to 12,162.19, and the FBM ACE Index gained 4.28 points to 5,380.04. Conversely, the FBM Emas Index slipped by 1.33 points to 12,080.72, and the FBM 70 Index decreased by 45.19 points to 17,158.36.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 4.03 points to 18,226.44, and the Plantation Index rose by 11.26 points to 7,872.49. Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased by 0.02 of a point to 173.61, and the Energy Index fell by 2.52 points to 793.04.