KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) – Bursa Malaysia extended last Friday's gains to open higher today on continued buying interest and in line with its regional peers, while tracking Wall Street’s bullish run last Friday.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 5.04 points to 1,711.42 from Friday's close of 1,706.38, after opening 6.43 points stronger at 1,712.81 today.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 111 to 92, with 144 unchanged, 1,533 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Volume stood at 59.57 million units valued at RM32.65 million.
Dealers said gains in the composite index were lifted by buying in blue chips and selected heavyweights such as Maybank and Public Bank.
Maybank rose one sen to RM9.46 and Public Bank added four sen to RM24.66.
Market sentiment turned positive following the announcement of Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the third quarter of this year by Bank Negara Malaysia last Friday.
"Despite recording a moderate GDP growth of 4.4 per cent, we remain confident of Malaysia’s future prospects, as domestic demand and the private sector will be the key drivers of economic growth, going forward,” the dealers said.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga fell four sen to RM14.86, Petronas Chemicals jumped 22 sen to RM9.62, CIMB increased one sen to RM5.66 and PetGas was 16 sen better at RM18.96.
Of actives, Orion IXL and Tatt Giap edged up half-a-sen each to 10.5 sen and 24 sen respectively, Dayang Enterprise gained 4.5 sen to 67 sen while JAG declined half-a-sen to 5.5 sen.
Nestle was the top gainer, bagging RM1 to RM148.00, while BAT led the top losers list by giving up 30 sen to RM38.00.
The FBM Emas Index climbed 29.10 points to 11,897.16, the FBMT 100 Index put on 29.79 points to 11,737.14, the FBM 70 strengthened 17.33 points to 14,006.03 and the FBM Ace Index was 19.38 points better at 4,964.50.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 42.20 points to 11,998.00.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index accumulated 33.93 points to 17,335.60, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.66 points to 175.67 and the Plantation Index was 12.72 points firmer at 7,269.36.