Bursa Malaysia managed to recover from a slight fall yesterday to open high this morning, amid rising oil prices as well as new confidence in the progress of the vaccine for Covid-19.
At 9.05am, the benchmark index of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 1.44 points to 1,600.16 from 1,598.72 when it closed yesterday afternoon.
According to Bernama, the key index opened 2.41 points higher at 1,601.13.
In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers by 325 to 149 while 342 counters were unchanged, 1,318 untraded and 25 others suspended.
Turnover strengthened to 486.44 million units worth RM171 million.
Malacca Securities argues that the recovery trend in general in the domestic market is still intact as the focus is still on the pace of economic recovery.
"The positive development of the Covid-19 vaccine will also help the recovery progress.
"Meanwhile, low-priced stocks are expected to increase, driven by the excess liquidity with the equity market continuing to be the focus of investors," he said in a note today.
By sector, the energy segment is poised to record a recovery after crude oil prices rose amid an unexpected decline in U.S. inventory ahead of today's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC +) today.
Meanwhile, the technology sector may be in the spotlight following the announcement of stronger semiconductor equipment bills for the third quarter.
Billing for global semiconductor equipment reportedly jumped 30 percent year-on-year to US $ 19.4 billion during the period.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM18.08, Top Glove rose four sen to RM6.72, while Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Gas added 14 sen to RM18.26 and RM17.94 respectively.
Meanwhile, QL Resources and Boilmerch have applied for their respective transactions postponed from 9am today pending the announcement.
Among the most active stocks, Fintech Global rose 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen, Bioalpha gained two sen to 33 sen and Dynaciate was one sen higher at 1.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 16.1 points to 11,577.62, the FBMT 100 Index improved 15.41 points at 11,333.51 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index expanded 29.62 points to 13,359.88.
FBM 70 strengthened 40.57 points to 15,010.31 and FBM ACE rose 59.45 points to 10,632.57.
The Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.42 points to 168.77, the Plantation Index added 2,026 points to 7,341.38 and the Financial Services Index declined 8.63 points to 14,286.95.
