NewzKUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher today showing resilience despite the global tech rout amid mixed Wall Street performance.At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 4.68 points to 1,717.16 from yesterday’s close of 1,712.48.The benchmark index opened 1.91 points higher at 1,714.39.The broader market was positive with gainers outpacing losers 160 to 135, while 267 counters were unchanged, 2,205 untraded and 48 suspended.Turnover totalled 105.88 million shares worth RM52.91 million.In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said overall sentiment may rebound today, though its upside will be limited by the global tech rout.“Semiconductor weakness could cap index gains, but stock-specific earnings breakouts offer clear trading opportunities,” it said.It noted that sector rotation has intensified following China’s largest DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies’ initial public offering (IPO), which triggered a sell-off in memory stocks like Micron and SK Hynix.“Investors fear that future Chinese capacity expansion could pressure traditional memory pricing down the road,” it said in a note today.It added that key focus shifts to the upcoming US second quarter gross domestic product figures, weekly jobless claims and the Federal Reserve policy decision.Among heavyweights, Maybank rose eight sen to RM10.98, CIMB added six sen to RM7.82, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare remained unchanged at RM5.19 and RM8.34 respectively, but Tenaga Nasional eased four sen to RM14.62.Among active stocks, Tanco and V.S Industry advanced one sen each to 27 sen and 23 sen, Xin Synergy gained half sen to 21.5 sen, while Velesto Energy and Land & General remained unchanged at 24.5 sen and 16.5 sen respectively.Among the top gainers, Nestle advanced 94 sen to RM94.60, APM Automotive jumped 10 sen to RM2.95, Petronas Chemicals was seven sen up to RM4.69, CelcomDigi inched up six sen to RM7.82 and Pentamaster climbed five sen to RM5.01.Hong Leong Bank led the losers, falling 20 sen to RM22.10, Sam Engineering & Equipment shed 10 sen to RM4.40, Critical Holdings lost seven sen to RM1.73, Kelington declined six sen to RM7.84, and Gopeng slipped 5.5 sen to 73.5 sen.Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index increased 26.73 points to 12,668.45, the FBMT 100 Index inched up 26.36 points to 12,502.75 and the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 4.75 points to 17,906.61.The FBM Ema… KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today, as market sentiment was boosted by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Rasheed Ghaffour’s positive remarks yesterday and expectations of a shift in the US Federal Reserve policy.An analyst said market sentiment improved after Rasheed said that Malaysia’s economy remains well on track to grow by between 4% to 5%, likely towards the upper end of the range, with manageable inflation in 2026 despite the energy supply shock.He said Malaysia's economic fundamentals, reform agenda and commitment to sound economic management have enabled the government to respond when shocks occur.Meanwhile, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the ringgit is expected to trade cautiously ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee decision tonight, hovering around RM4.08-RM4.09 against the US dollar.“The US Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in lower than expected at 90.8 points in July against consensus estimates of 92.4 points.“Following this, the two- and 10-year US Treasury yields fell by four basis points to 4.29% and 4.61%, respectively, suggesting that the US Federal Reserve may be inclined to keep the rate steady in the near term,” he told Bernama.Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies at the opening today.At 8am, the local currency rose to 4.0880/4.0940 against the greenback, compared to yesterday's closing of 4.0885/4.0930.It inched up against the Japanese yen to 2.4945/2.4983 from 2.4948/2.4976 at the close on Tuesday, but fell vis-à-vis the euro to 4.6538/4.6606 from 4.6429/4.6480 yesterday, and depreciated versus the British pound to 5.4305/5.4385 from 5.4287/5.4347 previously.The ringgit also traded mixed against regional currencies.It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1625/3.1675 from 3.1603/3.1640 yesterday and depreciated vis-à-vis Thai baht to 12.1775/12.2016 from 12.1494/12.1681 previously.The local note was traded with little change against the Indonesian rupiah at 226.0/226.5 from 226.0/226.4 at Tuesday’s close and was flat vis-à-vis the Philippine peso at 6.63/6.64 yesterday.
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