At 9.42 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 9.54 points, or 0.55%, to 1,756.97 from Tuesday’s close of 1,747.43.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Vice-President of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed broadly higher, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 supported by upbeat earnings, ending at record highs.
However, he noted that the situation in Middle East remains fluid despite Brent crude easing to about US$110 per barrel.
“On the home front, the FBM KLCI maintained its upward momentum, closing near the 1,750 level, or around a two-month high.
“Persistent late buying of index-linked laggards by foreign funds has been a recent feature, keeping the local bourse well supported at current levels,” he told Bernama.
Thong expects the index to hover within the 1,740 to 1,760 range today.
The benchmark index opened 1.65 points higher at 1,749.08 and extended gains in early trade.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 432 to 275. A total of 445 counters were unchanged, 1,480 untraded and 10 suspended.
Turnover stood at 698.93 million shares worth RM441.26 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional added 4 sen each to RM11.24, RM4.79 and RM14.84, respectively.
CIMB rose 9 sen to RM7.98, while IHH Healthcare was unchanged at RM8.83.
Among the most active stocks, Manforce Group fell 3 sen to 35 sen, GIIB Holdings eased 1.5 sen to 17 sen, Jentayu Sustainables edged up 0.5 sen to 29.5 sen, and Zetrix AI was unchanged at 86.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries surged RM2.44 to RM39.94, KESM Industries rose 22 sen to RM4.67, Unisem gained 18 sen to RM3.68, and Vitrox Corp added 16 sen to RM5.76.
Among the top losers, Nestle fell 20 sen to RM101.50, Fraser & Neave Holdings declined 16 sen to RM29.40, Petronas Chemicals lost 10 sen to RM5.82, and PJBumi slid 7 sen to RM3.22.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 66.93 points to 12,954.27, the FBM Top 100 Index added 68.60 points to 12,800.22, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 51.99 points to 12,918.54, the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 94.41 points to 18,636.89, and the FBM ACE Index edged up 8.36 points to 4,609.43.
By sector, the Energy Index slipped 2.02 points to 833.61 and the Plantation Index fell 8.14 points to 8,999.06.
The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.06 of-a-point to 197.73, while the Financial Services Index rose 133.97 points to 20,268.30.