Bursa Malaysia opens slightly higher

Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on Wednesday with gains limited by emerging profit taking in selected heavyweights, dealers said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.21 point to 1,643.05, after opening 2.08 points weaker at 1,641.18.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 172 to 82, with 143 counters unchanged, 1,371 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 97.10 million shares worth RM49.71 million.

Based on yesterday's close, RHB Retail Research said buyers were retaining control of the market, as the recent low of 1,607.50-point support mentioned previously was not violated.

"On the other hand, we are eyeing the immediate resistance level at 1,673 points, while the next resistance would likely be at the 1,700-point psychological mark.

"Hence, we advise traders to maintain long positions. A stop-loss can be set below the 1,607.50-point mark in order to limit the downside risk," it said in a research note today.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.26, TNB rose 10 sen to RM13.20, Petronas Chemicals increased two sen to RM7.09 while Public Bank was flat at RM18.28.

Among actives, Asia Media and Marco Holdings earned half-a-sen each to 14.5 sen and 16 sen respectively, Sersol improved 5.5 sen to 22 sen while SMTrack was flat at 11.5 sen.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index advanced 2.60 points to 11,507.16, the FBMT100 Index went up 5.18 points to 11,182.86 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 11.93 points to 12,453.75.

The FBM Ace climbed 34.73 points to 6,369.72 and the FBM 70 improved 29.83 points to 12,976.60.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index slipped 30.50 points to 13,952.91, as the Industrial Index contracted 2.98 points to 3,166.67 and the Plantation Index dipped 22.50 points to 7,351.74.