At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.01 points, or 0.29%, to 1,685.84 from Monday’s close of 1,680.83.
The benchmark index earlier opened 3.22 points higher at 1,684.05.
Market breadth was positive, with 191 gainers outnumbering 121 decliners. A total of 294 counters were unchanged, while 2,647 were untraded and 11 suspended.
Turnover stood at 147.06 million shares worth RM87.64 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said local stocks were ripe for accumulation at current levels, encouraging investors to undertake bargain hunting.
“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,680–1,690 range,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM11.28, CIMB rose two sen to RM7.42, IHH Healthcare added five sen to RM8.64, while Public Bank and TNB were unchanged at RM4.64 and RM14.00, respectively. Press Metal slipped one sen to RM7.88.
On the most active list, Sunway Healthcare jumped five sen to RM1.95, V.S. Industry added one sen to 20 sen, Toyo Ventures rose two sen to 22 sen, TWL was unchanged at 2.5 sen, and Reneuco fell 1.5 sen to half-a-sen.
Among top gainers, Hong Leong Bank advanced 36 sen to RM21.60, while LPI Capital and United Plantations climbed 12 sen each to RM14.40 and RM34.32, respectively. Allianz Malaysia added 10 sen to RM20.50.
Top losers included Sarawak Oil Palms, which slid 13 sen to RM4.62, Nestle, down 10 sen to RM100.00, TM, which fell nine sen to RM7.11, and UMS, which eased five sen to RM1.91.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 32.62 points to 12,180.53, the FBM Emas Index gained 33.48 points to 12,327.56, the FBM 70 Index advanced 30.20 points to 17,038.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 26.25 points to 12,190.51, and the FBM ACE Index increased 10.25 points to 4,310.71.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 91.51 points to 19,758.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.67 of-a-point to 183.62, the Energy Index gained 3.19 points to 814.75, and the Plantation Index climbed 26.20 points to 9,143.86.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia said trading in the securities of IJM Corp and Sunway was halted from 9am to 10am today.