Malaysian Shares Higher In Early Trade

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) opened higher on Monday prompted by buying interest for selected heavyweights. At 9.15 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,744.78, up 3.85 points from Friday's close of 1,740.93 The key index opened 2.32 points better at 1,743.25. Gainers among heavyweights included YTL Corp, Maybank and AMMB Holdings which added one sen each to RM1.25, RM9.25 and RM4.32, respectively, while Hong Leong Financial Group, Digi and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM16.78, RM4.94 and RM5.60, respectively. JF Apex Securities expected the local benchmark index to trade sideways and below its immediate resistance level of 1,750 points today, after recording a muted performance last Friday. "US equities closed at record highs on Friday on the back of a sharp rally in Apple shares. "Similarly, European markets closed provisionally higher, up almost 3 per cent, with most sectors and major bourses in the positive territory," it said in a note today. Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 227 to 124 while 224 counters were unchanged, 1,239 untraded and 29 others were suspended. Turnover stood at 379.73 million shares worth RM118.60 million. Of actives, Diversified Gateway and PUC both inched up half-a-sen each to eight sen and 20 sen, respectively, Ekovest rose two sen to RM1, Nova MSC gained one sen to 11.5 sen and EA Holdings was flat at 4.5 sen. The FBM Emas Index advanced 33.76 points to 12,596.92, the FBMT100 Index was 31.48 points firmer at 12,228.96 and the FBM Ace accumulated 28.72 points to 6,885.99. The FBM 70 improved 56.61 points to 15,535.07 and FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 33.88 points to 13,061.16. Sector-wise, the Finance Index expanded 33.97 points to 16,317.41 while the Plantation Index went up 27.27 points to 8,018.22 and the Industrial Index rose 11.18 points to 3,188.79. -- BERNAMA