Bursa Malaysia opens higher on improved sentiment

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Wednesday as market sentiment improved, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street following fresh artificial intelligence (AI)-related funding announcements.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.39 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 1,615.24 from Tuesday's close of 1,611.85.

The benchmark index opened 2.64 points higher at 1,614.49.

Across the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 251 to 94, while 297 counters were unchanged, 2,225 untraded, and 104 suspended.

Turnover stood at 218.30 million units worth RM87.52 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said overnight Wall Street ended higher as investors turned their attention to upcoming corporate earnings reports, particularly those from the technology sector.

"Back home, the FBM KLCI closed higher yesterday above the 1,610 level on bargain hunting, supported mainly by local funds.

"Buying interest was evident in utility counters, which came under heavy selling pressure the previous day. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,605-1,615 range," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank rose one sen to RM10.00, while CIMB added two sen to RM7.13. Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare were all flat at RM4.75, RM13.30 and RM7.84, respectively.

In active trade, Zetrix AI and MQ Technology inched up half a sen each to nine sen and six sen, respectively. VS Industry, MYMBN and Dagang Nexchange added one sen each to 35.5 sen, 17.5 sen and 45 sen, respectively.

Nestle led the top gainers, adding RM2.38 to RM96.66, while Malaysian Pacific Industries added 30 sen to RM41.60. Far East Holdings rose 25 sen to RM4.20, while MI Technovation and Hong Leong Bank went up 16 sen each to RM6.91 and RM21.36, respectively.

Among the top losers, United Plantations lost 38 sen to RM29.32, Westports Holdings declined 16 sen to RM6.92, Farm Fresh decreased seven sen to RM1.81, SAM Engineering & Equipment slid six sen to RM4.25 and Hengyuan Refining Company shed five sen to RM4.06.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 23.53 points to 12,062.82, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 21.02 points to 11,855.55, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 14.68 points to 17,384.80, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 20.98 points higher at 12,070.71 and the FBM ACE Index went up 27.12 points to 5,445.75.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.30 of a point to 177.21, the Energy Index increased 6.30 points to 852.04, the Financial Services Index jumped 31.79 points to 18,632.82 and the Plantation Index improved 6.32 points to 8,660.58.