KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia traded higher on Monday, supported by renewed buying interest in selected banking and telecommunications heavyweights, an analyst said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.69 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 1,714.79, compared with Friday’s close of 1,708.10. The benchmark index opened 1.60 points higher at 1,709.70 and fluctuated between 1,708.26 and 1,715.29 throughout the trading session. The broader market, however, was negative with losers outpacing gainers 611 to 488, while 580 counters were unchanged, 1,109 untraded and 25 suspended. Turnover declined to 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion from 4.33 billion units valued at RM2.98 billion on Friday.
US soybean futures climbed to their highest level in nearly a year and a half on Thursday, defying uncertainty over China’s pace of agricultural purchases as traders position ahead of a closely watched government crop report. January soy contracts rose as much as 0.4% to touch the strongest levels since June 2024. The rally brings prices back to where they traded after President Donald Trump announced last month that China had agreed to buy 12 million tons of US soybeans under a temporary trade truce — though only a small portion of those volumes has materialized. Markets are now fixed on Friday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the first update in two months. Analysts expect a mild downgrade to US soybean yields, with a Bloomberg survey of 26 forecasters projecting 53.1 bushels per acre for November, down from 53.5 previously. Joe Davis of Futures International said the latest leg higher is driven more by technical mome...