Bargain-hunting activity continued for 2 consecutive sessions in the local stock exchange even though negative sentiment still prevailed on Wall Street.
According to Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, Wall Street investors are overshadowed by cautious sentiment ahead of the United States (US) inflation data reading, but the local market is full of bargain-hunting activity based on losses in the last 3 sessions.
As a result, the FTSE KLCI index (FBM KLCI) rose 1.9 points to 1,382.47 from Wednesday's close of 1,380.57 with a good opening of 4.29 points to 1,384.86.
In the broader market, losses at 125 outpaced gains at 113, while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,920 untraded and 9 suspended.
Total revenue at 86.93 million units worth RM51.56 million.
Heavyweight stocks saw Maybank down 1 sen at RM8.50 while Public Bank Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd gained 1 sen at RM4.23, RM5.31 and RM5.55 while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd added 7 sen at RM8 .62.
Active stocks showed Citaglobal Bhd holding steady at 28.5 sen while Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd and Tanco Holdings Bhd rose 0.5 sen to 19.5 sen and 30.5 sen respectively while Yew Lee Pacific Group Bhd jumped 1 sen to 26.5 sen and Shin Yang Shipping Corp Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 78.5 penny
On the index board, FBM Emas reached 6.43 points at 9,858.83, FBM 70 fell 10.31 points at 11,929.05, FBMT 100 gained 8.09 points at 9,612.1, FBM Emas Shariah added 6.41 points at 9,828.04 and FBM ACE fell 19.23 points at 4,612.14.
In terms of sectors, the Financial Services index rose 8.49 points at 15,932.26, the Products and Services index added 1.19 points at 170.43, the Plantation index fell 14.62 points at 6,349.9 and the Energy index decreased 0.62 points at 674.16.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded weak at 4.6850/6875 against the dollar from Wednesday's close of 4.6820/6855.
