KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher this morning on a cautious note following concerns over heightened geopolitical tensions in Syria after the local mart recorded an easier trading last week.
However, the positive sentiment in the regional market at the opening today has lent some support to the local market.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.05 points better at 1,869.52 from Friday’s close of 1,868.47.
The index opened 0.22 of-a-point at 1,868.69.
Gainers led losers 146 to 116, while 150 counters were unchanged, 1,483 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Volume stood at 168.2 million units valued at RM63.3 million.
The US and European allies launched airstrikes against Syrian research, storage and military targets in the early hours of Saturday morning to punish the Bashar al-Assad regime for a suspected chemical weapons attack.
In a note, Public Investment Bank Bhd said Wall Street finished a choppy week of trading on a down note on Friday as bank stocks came under pressure and investors remained wary of further military strikes on Syria.
“Treasuries mostly crept higher despite the prevailing cautious mood and a closely watched indicator of economic recessions, especially the difference between short- and long-dated bonds, which shrank to its lowest level since 2007,” it said.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Investment Bank said the Asian markets closed mostly higher after US President Donald Trump tweeted that further strikes against Syria was unlikely.
“Despite last Friday’s loss, the overall technical picture improved since last week overreaction sell-down,” the research said.
Among heavyweights, Sime Darby added five sen to RM5.64, Digi.com and TNB increased four sen each to RM4.52 and RM15.92, respectively, and PetDag rose 28 sen to RM25.76.
Gainers led by DLady, which added 46 sen to RM67.06, followed by Supermx, which gained 15 sen to RM2.75, Gopeng, which added eight sen to RM1.48, and EngKah, which advanced six sen to RM1.39.
For actives, SapNRG rose one sen to 75 sen, SKH and EAH were unchanged at 9.5 sen and four sen, respectively, and UMWOG inched up half-a-sen to 30.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 4.26 points higher at 13,133.78 and the FBMT 100 Index rose 4.11 points to 12,925.73 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 16.43 points to 13,369.13.
The FBM 70 declined 5.71 points to 15,813.87 and the FBM Ace slipped 29.75 points to 5,616.38.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 55.33 points for 18,202.95, the Industrial Index trimmed 1.26 points to 3,242.28 and the Plantation Index eased 12.86 points to 8,052.81.