Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning in line with the positive momentum of equity markets in developing countries following the development of global initiatives on the Covid-19 vaccine over the weekend.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index added 2.99 points to 1,596.74 after opening 0.49 low at 1,583.26.
Bernama reported that gainers outnumbered losers by 365 to 183 while 349 counters were unchanged, 1,272 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover was 772.42 million worth RM246.58 million.
An analyst said the positive developments reported by key vaccine participants have boosted global equities, especially stocks of developing countries, with high hopes that Covid-19 will end soon.
"After almost a year of global market struggle, investors are so positive the market will recover in the first quarter of next year," he said.
According to Bloomberg, the stocks, currencies and bonds of developing countries rose for the third consecutive week in the five days until Friday last week as the prospect of launching the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming months has successfully eased concerns about an increase in transmission leading to stricter movement restrictions in the near future.
Findings from the final stages of the AstraZeneca (Astra) vaccine study will be released following successful experiments from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc.
The United States (US) plans to launch the Covid-19 vaccine within a few weeks while the United Kingdom announces a quarantine ban will be relaxed by Christmas and the French government plans to ease the third phase of movement restrictions from December.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities in a research note said low-priced stocks are likely to move higher, driven by selective buying while investors will continue to focus on corporate earnings announcements as well as a voting session for Budget 2021 in Parliament this week.
On Bursa Malaysia, Public Bank heavyweights gained 34 sen to RM18.64, Top Glove rose nine sen to RM7.38, Hartalega at RM14.54 and MISC rose five sen to RM7.05.
Among actives, Metronic added two sen to 12.5 sen, while NETX, P.A Resources and AT Systematization rose half-a-sen to 15 sen, 15.5 sen and 19 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index rose 26.01 points to 11,489.98, the FBMT 100 Index added 22.89 points to 11,489.98, the FBM Gold Shariah Index jumped 26.10 points to 13,251.98, and the FBM 70 expanded 36.94 points to 14,771.98.
FBM ACE rose 12.21 points to 11,165.74, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.64 points to 160.82, while the Plantation Index fell 30.95 points to 7,313.53, and the Financial Services Index declined 4.40 points to 14.018.92.
