Bursa Malaysia opens slightly higher

Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on Tuesday, extending yesterday’s gains but mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights limited the gains, dealers said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.40 point better at 1,673.08, after opening 1.84 points higher at 1,674.49.

Gainers outpaced decliners 148 to 64, while 193 counters were unchanged, 1,281 untraded and 26 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 119.87 million shares worth RM45.70 million.

In a research note today, RHB Retail Research maintained its bearish short-term outlook for the index, saying buying interest was still weak.

“The index has not climbed above the recent high of the 1,675.50-point resistance mentioned since two weeks ago.

“On a technical basis, as long as the bearishness of July 21’s ‘Tower Top’ pattern is not negated, we believe that the sellers still have control of the market,” it said.

The FBM Emas Index rose 4.97 points to 11,741.69 and the FBMT 100 Index was up 3.61 points at 11,440.04.

The FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 17.87 points to 12,373.70, the FBM 70 rose 7.46 points to 13,466.39 but the FBM Ace slipped 14.89 points to 5,469.39.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index gained 10.13 points to 3,160.24, the Plantation Index rose 6.63 points to 7,680.66 but the Finance Index was 11.95 points lower at 14,335.64.

Among heavyweights, TNB, Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM14.58, RM7.98 and RM6.59 respectively, while Public Bank shed two sen to RM19.62.

Of the actives, MBSB and PDZ Holdings advanced one sen each to 93 sen and 9.5 sen respectively, Konsortium Transnasional went up two sen to 18 sen while Vivocom Intl was flat at 29 sen.

The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM167.34 per gramme, up 21 sen from RM167.13 at 5pm yesterday.