KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trade on Monday, breaching the 1,600-level after Wall Street stocks made further advances last Friday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closing at records.
At 9.12am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.14 points to 1,611.56 from 1,599.42 at Friday’s close.
The index opened 7.58 points higher at 1,607.00.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 453 to 174, while 366 counters were unchanged, 1,168 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 771.39 million units worth RM370.47 million.
Last Friday, the S&P 500 index gained 0.47 per cent, the Dow Jones rose 0.09 per cent, and Nasdaq improved 0.5 per cent.
In a note, Public Investment Bank said investors weighed the prospect of increased fiscal stimulus against the possibility of higher inflation.
“US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen on Friday told finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations to ‘go big’ on fiscal support to promote a lasting recovery,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.02, PChem was up 11 sen to RM7.61, TM improved 16 sen to RM6.76, Tenaga increased 10 sen to RM10.16, and Axiata increased five sen to RM3.48.
Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange rose 2.5 sen to 45.5 sen, Techna-X gained 1.5 sen to 15 sen, Luster Industries and Velesto improved half-a-sen each to 23 sen and 14 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 84.75 points to 11,746.57, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 79.93 points to 11,459.97, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 103.69 points higher at 13,223.94.
The FBM 70 rose 82.46 points to 15,354.11 and the FBM ACE increased 13.00 points to 10,896.23.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 74.37 points to 15,112.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 1.4 points to 181.97, and the Plantation Index gained 43.64 points to 7,189.33.
— Bernama
