At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched back 0.48 of a point to 1,484.65 from yesterday’s close of 1,485.13.
The market bellwether had begun the day 1.91 points higher at 1,487.04.
However, on the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 175 to 113, while 244 counters were unchanged, 1,669 were not traded and 10 others were suspended.
Turnover amounted to 213.46 million units worth RM62.95 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said sentiment within the local bourse remained fragile as investors were sidelined, waiting for more solid catalysts.
“As such, we expect the index to trend within a tight range of between 1,485 and 1,495 today as we can see that the 1,500 level remains a strong psychological resistance level,” he told Bernama.
He believes interest in the telecommunications and media stocks may emerge as the sector has underperformed in the broader market so far this year.
“Wall Street closed positively as bargain hunting activities emerged on beaten-up tech stocks as traders are betting that US inflation may have peaked,” he pointed out.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 186 points while the Nasdaq added 107 points as the US 10-year yield edged higher to almost 3.62%.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and CIMB were flat at RM8.79, RM4.30, RM8.30 and RM5.72 respectively, while Tenaga Nasional was lower by five sen to RM9.48.
As for the actives, Dagang Nexchange added five sen to 55.5 sen, Tanco Holdings and L&P Global rose half-a-sen each to 39 sen and 58.5 sen respectively, Ancom Logistics gained a sen to 15 sen, while Berjaya Corporation was unchanged at 35 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 7.08 points to 10,699.68, the FBMT 100 Index strengthened by 5.53 points to 10,401.15, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index widened by 12.51 points to 10,905.85.
The FBM 70 Index was higher by 45.33 points to 13,239.17 and the FBM ACE Index gained 19.02 points to 5,395.85.
Sector-wise, the financial services index went up 1.43 points to 16,481.77 and the industrial products and services index inched up 0.17 of-a-point to 182.62.
The plantation index added 17.07 points to 6,941.47 and the energy index garnered 1.01 points to 797.07.