BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER IN TANDEM WITH POSITIVE WALL STREET

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today in tandem with positive Wall Street overnight performance, buoyed by encouraging corporate earnings, especially from Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc, which came in higher than forecast.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.23 points to 1,509.75 from Thursday’s close of 1,506.52.

The benchmark index had opened 5.12 points better at 1,511.64.

Market breadth was positive, with 221 gainers outpacing 93 decliners. A total of 227 counters were unchanged, while 1,916 were untraded and 39 suspended.

Turnover stood at 140.44 million shares, valued at RM70.59 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Alphabet’s overall revenue grew 12 per cent year-over-year, higher than the 10 per cent Wall Street expected.

“The stronger-than-expected performance (by Alphabet) boosted Wall Street’s overnight gains, with buying interest primarily gravitating toward tech-related stocks.

“Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield eased marginally to 4.315 per cent,” he told Bernama.

Over in Hong Kong, he said the Hang Seng Index dipped below the 22,000 level following a statement that Washington has not offered to lower tariffs unitarily.

“Also, traders are disappointed that the US has not shown a clear road map to de-escalate the trade tension,” he added.

Back home, Thong hopes the FBM KLCI will continue breaking the 1,500 level, which is underpinned by foreign buying activities.

“We were surprised by the net foreign inflow on Wednesday, which is a rarity this year, and hopefully this will be sustainable.

“Currently lingering at below 14 times price-to-earnings, valuations for the local bourse are deemed attractive, thus we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,500-1,515 range today,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional added 2.0 sen each to RM9.97 and RM13.62, respectively, CIMB perked up by 4.0 sen to RM7.02, IHH Healthcare eased 1.0 sen to RM6.87, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.37. 

In active trade, Yong Tai increased 2.0 sen to 24 sen, Bina Puri eased 12 sen to 25.5 sen, Pos Malaysia was 2.5 sen lower at 26.5 sen, while Jiankun International and My E.G. Services were flat at 3.0 sen and 89.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 29.80 points to 11,184.34, the FBMT 100 Index rose 28.71 points to 10,964.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 27.37 points to 11,016.69, the FBM 70 Index expanded 61.94 points to 15,639.12, while the FBM ACE Index went down 4.57 points to 4,598.93.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index strengthened 41.30 points to 18,037.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.96 of-a-point to 146.87, the Energy Index firmed by 2.35 points to 668.19, while the Plantation Index slipped 11.10 points to 7,182.26. 

Meanwhile, the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia received reports yesterday that brokers have identified failed client logins or unauthorised access and trading activities executed via limited clients’ online trading accounts. 

-- BERNAMA