Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed to an almost four-month high, supported by continuous buying from foreign funds.
“Though the market may be due for a minor correction to digest the 70-point rally since early July, we reckon the index to be on a solid stance to chart further highs.
“For today, we may see some intermittent correction, thus expect the index to hover within the 1,445-1,455 range,” he told Bernama.
He noted that Wall Street turned mixed overnight as traders digested the 25 basis-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve and strong earnings from big-cap companies, particularly Alphabet and Boeing.
At 9.20am, the FBM KLCI rose 6.02 points to 1,455.31 from 1,449.29 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 1.63 points lower at 1,447.66.
The broader market was also positive as advancers surpassed decliners 253 to 187, while 295 counters were unchanged, 1,558 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 445.04 million units worth RM178.50 million.
Back home, Bursa heavyweights Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added two sen each to RM9.02 and RM7.02, respectively, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.09 and Tenaga Nasional bagged four sen to RM9.64, while CIMB slid two sen to RM5.46.
Of the actives, Datasonic Group was six sen higher at 51 sen, Advance Synergy ticked up 0.5 sen to 16.5 sen and Econpile Holdings gained one sen to 26 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated and Tance Holdings were flat at nine sen and 56 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 40.6 points to 10,690.97, the FBMT 100 Index was 38.33 points better at 10,378.28, the FBM 70 Index perked up 32.14 points to 13,992.52 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 51.93 points to 10,984.76, while the FBM ACE Index shed 25.62 points to 5,294.69.
Sector-wise, the financial services index garnered 60.95 points to 16,163.83, the industrial products and services index improved 0.72 of-a-point to 168.95, and the plantation index increased by 29.82 points to 7,241.99, while the energy index weakened by 2.3 points to 832.12.