Trading on Bursa Malaysia continued to maintain an uptrend to open higher in this morning's trading, taking cues from the strong overnight performance on Wall Street after investors were confident that the US economy is now on track to recover.
This optimism was boosted by a positive statement from Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell who assured central bank support could help the economy without involving onerous inflation.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index rose 12.34 points to 1,614.74 from the close of trading yesterday afternoon.
Bernama reported that the key index opened 12.55 points higher at 1,614.95.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 275 to 211 while 300 counters were unchanged, 1,371 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover was 403.91 million shares worth RM276.73 million.
According to a research note from Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, the local bourse is tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, particularly the Nasdaq, as positive sentiment is expected to tend to technology stocks in the local market.
The firm added that for commodities, crude palm oil prices saw a modest decline while Brent crude oil prices rose higher.
"For the focus sectors, we expect buying interest to emerge in the technology sector.
"In addition, we think market participants will also survey consumer, aviation, real estate and construction stocks to expose the recovery theme," the firm said.
Meanwhile, the research firm also added that with the FBM KLCI remaining strong above the psychological level of 1,600 followed by double trading volume, the barrier level for trading was between 1,615 to 1,635 while the support level was set at 1,565 to 1,575.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM8.28, RM4.22 and RM7.81 respectively, Tenaga rose six sen to RM10.20 and IHH Healthcare declined three sen to RM5.27 .
As for active counters, SYF Resources rose one sen to 45 sen, KTG and AT Systematization rose half-a-sen to 28 sen and 11.5 sen respectively, LKL fell one sen to 44 sen while VSolar was flat at three sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 66.92 points to 11,929.62, FBMT 100 rose 65.29 points to 11,573.09, FBM Emas Syariah added 91.17 points to 13,314.28, FBM ACE expanded 84.90 points to 10,013.99 and FBM 70 rose 0.59 points to 15,856.73.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.01 points to 193.7, the Plantation Index fell 10.45 points to 6,976.15 while the Financial Services Index rose 75.45 points to 15,288.90.
