Bursa Malaysia's trading maintained its uptrend to open higher today after being driven by continued buying demand for selected heavyweights following investors regaining deck confidence as local political turmoil subsided.
At 10.11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 8.47 points to 1,598.63 from 1,590.16 at the close on Friday.
Bernama reported that the key index traded 3.03 points better at 1,593.19.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers by 286 to 200, while 373 counters were unchanged, 1,387 untraded and 50 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 523.04 million units worth RM210.16 million.
Malacca Securities said the positive sentiment was expected to continue to be supported by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's target of achieving vaccination rates of more than 50% of the adult population in six states, namely Perak, Terengganu, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Sabah by the end of September.
In the meantime, he also wants to consider for the Klang Valley to move to Phase 2 of the National Rehabilitation Plan.
Brokerage firms said the KLCI continued to maintain its upward pace driven by strong buying interest from foreign funds amid the easing political situation and the reopening of business activity.
However, it said trade today was likely to slow ahead of the public holiday in conjunction with the Independence Day celebrations tomorrow.
In addition, the technology sector is seen to continue to gain attention following yesterday's rise on the Nasdaq to record a record high following the statement by the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on its dovish monetary policy.
For heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.43, Petronas Chemicals and IHH rose 10 sen each to RM8.30 and RM6.45, respectively.
TNB jumped eight sen to RM10.46 and Public Bank was flat at RM4.18.
For active stocks, KNM Group and Green Ocean rose half-a-sen each to 26.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively, Impiana Hotels rose one sen to eight sen and Orion IXL declined one sen to 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index rose 64.95 points to 11,338.33, the FBM 70 rose 53.81 points to 15,024.15 and the FBM ACE rose 16.77 points to 7,231.64.
The FBM Emas Index jumped 63.80 points to 11,624.33 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 74.66 points to 12,754.02.
By sector, the Financial Services Index increased 58.04 points to 15,544.94, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.45 points to 198.01 and the Plantation Index rose 10.34 points to 6,784.02.
