At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.81 points, or 0.39%, to 1,724.08 from Monday’s close of 1,717.27.
The benchmark index had earlier opened 4.13 points higher at 1,721.40.
Market breadth was negative, with losers slightly outnumbering gainers at 179 to 172. A total of 324 counters were unchanged, while 2,043 were untraded and 86 suspended.
Turnover stood at 166.50 million shares, valued at RM83.84 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note that amid expectations of a leadership transition at the US Federal Reserve, with Kevin Warsh seen as a potential successor to Jerome Powell, his view that artificial intelligence (AI)-driven productivity can help ease inflation may continue to underpin sentiment towards semiconductor and AI-related stocks.
The brokerage firm said, despite US president Donald Trump’s scepticism towards Iran’s latest proposal, it is believed that investors’ focus is shifting towards earnings from the ‘Magnificent Seven’ (a group of seven high-performing, influential US technology and growth stocks) this Wednesday, which are expected to dictate Wall Street’s direction in the short term.
These stocks include Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corporation and Meta Platforms Inc.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said some investors, particularly in banking stocks, may have decided to lock in profits.
“However, index-linked laggards remained as the main focus, and we expect this to persist. As such, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,715–1,730 range today,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank firmed four sen to RM11.14, Public Bank advanced three sen to RM4.75, CIMB jumped nine sen to RM7.74, while Tenaga Nasional was down two sen to RM14.56 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM8.77.
On the most active list, Luster Industries and SMRT Holding inched up half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen and 17.5 sen, respectively, UEM Sunrise gained one sen to 60 sen, while VS Industry eased half-a-sen to 22 sen and Nationgate lost one sen to 78 sen.
Top gainers included Hong Leong Bank, which added 26 sen to RM22.60, Vstecs, KESM and United Plantation were 18 sen higher at RM5.24, RM3.91 and RM31.80, respectively. Petronas Gas rose 14 sen to RM18.20.
Top losers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which shaved 34 sen to RM37.54, MI Technovation dropped nine sen to RM3.43, Kelington Group fell seven sen to RM6.31, PGF and Rapid Synergy Capital lost six sen each to RM1.64 and 71 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 37.22 points to 12,753.35, the FBMT 100 Index improved 37.93 points to 12,587.32, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 24.99 points to 12,685.08, the FBM 70 Index increased 4.18 points to 18,173.26, but the FBM ACE Index fell 3.12 points to 4,654.90.
By sector, the Financial Services Index advanced 112.17 points to 20,089.08, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.14 of a point to 195.05, the Energy Index gained 3.25 points to 834.86 and the Plantation Index added 32.60 points to 8,867.17.