Bursa Malaysia crosses 1,600 in early trade, Go Hub surges on ACE Market debut

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, crossing the 1,600 mark in early Tuesday trade.

The benchmark FBM KLCI rose 2.73 points, or 0.17% to 1,600.69 at 9.13 am. The index opened 1.64 points higher at 1,599.60.

Go Hub, which debuted on the ACE Market today, surged 140%, or 49 sen to 84 sen. It is also the most active counter with 63.35 million shares traded.

Sunway Construction rose 24 sen to RM4.24, Gamuda added 19 sen to RM6.89 and Arka advanced 14 sen to RM2.18.

Among the decliners, Dutch Lady slipped 72 sen to RM35.14, KESM lost five sen to RM6.95, Heineken fell four sen to RM22.30 and Suria Capital declined four sen to RM1.96.

Inter-Pacific Research believes that although the key index ended the day marginally lower, the recovery phase remains intact as the consolidation trend appears to have run its course.

Consequently, the key index would be attempting to find more near-term stability around the 1,600 level amid the easing selling pressure.

Nevertheless, Inter-Pacific said fresh buying interest may still be benign in the absence of new compelling buying opportunities and there could only be nibbling on some of the recent big losers that would help the key index to find some reprieve for the time being.

“We also see the market remaining subdued with the hurdle above the 1,600 level located at 1,605 points, while the supports remain at 1,595 and 1,590 points respectively,” it said.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41% to close at 39,331.85, the S&P 500 gained 0.62% to 5,509.01 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.84% to 18,028.76.

Apex Securities said the FBM KLCI may attempt to re-claim the 1,600 pts, taking a cue from the positive developments on Wall Street overnight.

It noted that the lower liners are enjoying a better run, taking advantage onto the improved market sentiment.

Economic-wise, investors will be keeping a close tab on the release of services and composite data across major economies alongside the FOMC minutes later tonight to gather hints over the timing of the interest rate cut.

“We continue to favour the technology sector which might mirror the overnight positive performance on Nasdaq that surpassed the 18,000 pts. The plantation sector may come into the spotlight with CPO prices for five consecutive sessions and settled above RM4,000 per tonne,” it said.