Bursa opens firmer despite elevated US yields, oil prices

Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Friday as bargain hunting continued following recent losses, despite elevated US Treasury yields and oil prices.

At 9.10 am, the benchmark index rose 1.90 points, or 0.11%, to 1,674.21 from Thursday’s close of 1,672.31.

The index opened 2.56 points higher at 1,674.87.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 192 to 128. A total of 342 counters were unchanged, while 2,261 were untraded and 43 suspended.

Turnover stood at 294.55 million shares worth RM72.92 million.

In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) said investors are likely to remain cautious, keeping the benchmark index range-bound as higher oil prices, elevated bond yields and a relatively hawkish US Federal Reserve limit appetite for equities.

At the time of writing, Brent crude oil had eased 0.79% to US$105.76 a barrel.

On the domestic front, HLIB said the potential RM28 billion in Chinese investments and the proposed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) extension to Rantau Panjang, Kelantan, announced yesterday, could provide support and strengthen Malaysia’s longer-term investment and regional connectivity prospects.

However, the investment bank said the near-term impact may remain limited pending implementation.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.16, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were unchanged at RM4.82 and RM8.06 respectively. CIMB lost three sen to RM7.93, while Tenaga Nasional added eight sen to RM13.14.

In active trade, Aimax, Iconic Worldwide and Zetrix AI each gained half a sen to 1.5 sen, 9.5 sen and 19.5 sen respectively, while TWL and GIIB were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 59.5 sen respectively.

Hong Leong Financial and Petronas Dagangan were the top gainers, rising 10 sen each to RM18.96 and RM20.10 respectively. Northern Solar added nine sen to RM1.27, while Press Metal Aluminium and Fraser & Neave advanced eight sen each to RM7.54 and RM23.08 respectively.

Nestle was the biggest loser, falling 80 sen to RM90.66. Malaysian Pacific Industries shed 28 sen to RM43.22, Dutch Lady Milk Industries declined 26 sen to RM30.10, while Apollo Food and Allianz Malaysia each slipped eight sen to RM5.72 and RM21.00 respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 39.53 points to 17,794.35, the FBM Emas Index gained 18.16 points to 12,459.43, the FBM Top 100 Index strengthened 17.32 points to 12,248.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 18.24 points to 12,309.96, and the FBM ACE Index advanced 17.77 points to 5,455.10.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.27 of a point to 184.61, while the Energy Index gained 3.11 points to 863.54.

The Financial Services Index climbed 18.81 points to 19,573.68, while the Plantation Index rose 18.56 points to 9,409.84.

Subscribe to our newsletter and get news delivered to your mailbox.