Bursa Malaysia opens on firm note

At 9.10 am, the benchmark index stood at 1,837.62 points, up 3.10 points, after opening 3.78 points better at 1,838.30 points.

Gainers led losers by 152 to 71 while 158 counters were unchanged, 1,415 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 191.66 million shares worth RM52.08 million.

AllianceDBS Research said following the higher close on Friday, the benchmark index was likely to test higher level with immediate overhead resistance at 1,845.

"A rise above 1,845 should see a test of next hurdle at 1,860 points. The support zone is pegged between 1,815 and 1,830.

"The moving average (MA)analysis shows that the weekly FBMKLCI is still in the downtrend as the 50-week MA line is still pointing down.

"Furthermore, the market must at least close above the 50-week MA line for three consecutive weeks," it said in a research note today.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and TNB rose two sen each to RM9.47 and RM14.32, respectively, while Public Bank and Axiata were flat at RM19.02 and RM7.07, respectively.

Among actives, Ingenuity Consolidated and Bio Osmo were flat at nine sen and 10 sen, respectively, Tiger Synergy earned half a sen to 14 sen while Connectcounty added 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index improved 12.94 points to 12,595.97 points, FBMT100 garnered 18.85 points to 12,289.94 points and the FBM Emas Syariah Index went up 14.29 points to 13,148.49 points.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index appreciated 7.77 points to 16,335.71 points, Plantation Index was up 6.07 points at 7,818.36 points and the Industrial Index was 0.17 point higher at 3,356.26 points.