Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, tracking Wall Street's uptrend performance, driven by investor expectations for clarity through US (US) presidential election results and a fiscal stimulus package that may be drafted after the decision is finalized.
At 9.05am, the benchmark index, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.87 points to 1,464.32 after opening 3.04 points better at 1,464.49.
According to Bernama, gainers outnumbered losers by 276 to 107 while 248 counters were unchanged, 1,510 counters untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 321.75 million worth RM105.74 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, said it expects the unfavorable momentum on the local bourse to continue as investors will monitor the progress of US election results that put them at a standstill.
"Meanwhile, the focus of investors by sector round also occurred on low-priced stocks although sentiment remained unstable following the US vote counting session during the market trading period today.
"We saw the construction sector being the focus of investors before the presentation of the 2021 Budget with mega infrastructure projects expected to be maintained," he said in a research note today.
The brokerage firm said the technology sector may also remain strong based on Nasdaq's robust performance overnight.
The rise in the local market barometer contributed mainly by Fraser & Neave which rose 26 sen to RM31.28, Malaysian Pacific Industries added 16 sen to RM22.02 and Hartalega added 10 sen to RM17.86.
Among heavyweights, Maybank declined one sen to RM6.99, Top Glove was flat at RM8.32 and Public Bank rose four sen to RM15.00.
For active stocks, Vortex Consolidated rose half-a-sen to 5.5 sen, XOX fell 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen, GD Express Carrier added two sen to 41.5 sen and Salcon was flat at 34 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 33.28 points to 10,595.07, the FBMT 100 Index added 30.27 points to 10,401.48 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index added 37.90 points to 12,708.65.
Meanwhile, FBM 70 rose 78.67 points to 13,893.29 and FBM ACE jumped 94.12 points to 9,853.93.
The Financial Services Index rose 21.26 points to 12,003.33, the Industrial Goods and Services Index increased 0.34 points to 142.62 and the Plantation Index added 4.30 points to 6,847.68.
