KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning in following through on the strong global equities close last week, with the Nasdaq Composite index hitting a record high, which had an encouraging spillover effect on the local bourse.
At 9.04am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,851.99, up 8.07 points from 1,843.92 at Friday's close.
The key index opened 7.74 points better at 1,851.66 this morning.
Public Investment Bank Bhd said in a note, the latest US jobs report painted a picture of a “Goldilocks” labour market and hopes growing that relations between the US and North Korea could improve.
“US non-farm payrolls increased by 313,000 last month which easily beat forecasts and was the biggest increase in 18 months. However, wage growth was subdued with average hourly earnings edging up by just 0.1 per cent, which pulled the year-on-year increase down to 2.6 per cent,” the research firm said.
Market breadth was positive with 270 gainers against 56 losers, while 155 counters were unchanged, 1,395 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 137.71 million shares worth RM48.92 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM10.44, Public Bank added eight sen to RM23.08, TNB rose two sen to RM15.56 and CIMB increased eight sen to RM7.23.
Of actives, SKH Consortium, Nexgram and Berjaya Corp rose half-a-sen each to 10.5 sen, 4.5 sen and 35 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index rose 64.44 points to 13,033.39, the FBMT 100 Index was 62.76 points better at 12,773.95 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 71.33 points to 13,193.84.
The FBM 70 increased 100.46 points to 15,523.73 and the FBM Ace was 34.08 points higher at 6,005.94.
Sectorwise, the Finance Index gained 80.42 points to 18,073.16, the Industrial Index increased 13.57 points to 3,195.43 and the Plantation Index rose 36.31 points to 8,080.47. — Bernama
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