Bursa rebounds higher as heavyweights recover from previous losses

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia traded higher early Tuesday as beaten-down heavyweights recovered from losses in the previous trading session.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.54 points to 1,682.73 from Monday's close of 1,678.19.

The key index opened 0.37 of-a-point lower at 1,677.82.

The broader market was firm as gainers outnumbered decliners 183 to 107, with 267 counters unchanged, 1,870 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 112.08 million units valued at RM57.55 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street was closed for the US Labour Day yesterday, with traders expecting a volatile session ahead when the market reopens, as illustrated by the stagnant stock futures.

"At home, the market undertone may turn cautious as reflected by the decline in daily volume traded.

"We expect the index to hover within the 1,680-1,690 range today. We believe stock accumulation by foreign funds will persist, especially after a decent corporate earnings season that may instigate some upgrades in earnings growth for 2024," he said.

Among heavyweights, YTL and YTL Power continued their rally, gaining six sen to RM3.08 and RM4.06, while Tenaga Nasional bagged 16 sen to RM14.72.

Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals recovered from the previous day's losses, adding two sen each to RM4.77 and RM5.75.

As for the active counters, Luster Industries was unchanged at seven sen, Widad and Cape EMS were half-a-sen higher at 5.5 sen and 37.5 sen, respectively, and Notion Vtec gained seven sen to RM1.20.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 37.84 points to 12,547.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 36.66 points to 12,356.29 and the FBMT 100 Index added 36.38 points to 12,240.64, the FBM 70 Index expanded 64.94 points to 17,611.89 and the FBM ACE Index was 14.87 points higher to 5,201.47.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 41.53 points to 19,752.21, the Plantation Index was 7.12 points higher at 7,312.88, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.12 of-a-point to 181.03, and the Energy Index recovered 0.42 of-a-point to 919.70.

-- BERNAMA