Boursa malaysia: share Prices Open Firmer

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened firmer on bargain hunting today with heavyweights such as Maybank which posted record profit yesterday helping to lift the market. In thin trade, the FBM KLCI increased 2.41 points to 1,474.57 after 15 minutes of trading. It opened 2.2 points higher at 1,474.36. "Against the sluggish broad market backdrop, investors are expected to react to individual corporate developments," HwangDBS Vickers Research said. After rising as much as 1.9 to 2.4 per cent initially, major US equity indices lost steam subsequently to finish between flat and marginally up last night. The Dow Jones Index closed at 10,854.65, up 0.34 per cent. "This pedestrian Wall Street performance would likely prompt Asian investors to be cautious today," said the research house. Bursa Malaysia's Finance Index jumped 8.91 points to 14,031.37, the Plantation Index rose 22.29 points to 7,185.08 and the Industrial Index climbed 1.97 points to 2,735.94. The FBM Emas Index appreciated 17.11 points to 10,091.08, the FBM70 Index was up 19.03 points to 11,019.84 and the FBM Ace added 4.93 points to 3,788.97. Advancers led decliners by 153 to 50 while 95 counters were unchanged and 1,185 counters were not traded. A total of 47.858 million shares worth RM50.625 million were traded. Sunway which was re-quoted following the merger exercise between Sunway Holdings and Sunway City slipped 15 sen to RM2.65. Among active stocks, Malayan United was flat at 20 sen, Astral Supreme inched up one sen and Perdana Petroleum perked up three sen to 75.5 sen. Among heavyweights, Maybank added five sen to RM8.69, CIMB slipped two sen to RM7.75 while Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals inched up two sen each to RM8.83 and RM6.26 respectively. Tenaga Nasional edged down two sen to RM5.47.