Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended higher due to bargain hunting particularly in telecommunications and commodity-related counters.
“In addition, the improving geopolitical relations between the US and China have given some boost to investor sentiment after US treasury secretary Janet Yellen concluded her visit to Beijing, and said that the talks were ‘direct’ and ‘productive’, putting bilateral ties on ‘surer footing’,” he told Bernama today.
On the other hand, he said investors were expected to remain cautious ahead of key inflation reports this week, including the US consumer price index report due Wednesday and the producers’ price index on Thursday.
“Hence, we reiterate our recommendation to accumulate blue chips such as banks, telcos and commodity-related stocks for a better countermeasure strategy.
“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,380-1,395 for the week with immediate resistance at 1,400, with support at 1,373,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI gained 5.39 points, or 0.39%, to 1,383.06 from 1,377.67 at Friday’s close.
The key index opened 0.11 of-a-point lower at 1,377.56 this morning and moved to its highest level of 1,386.94 in the early morning session.
The broader market turned positive as gainers surpassed losers 405 to 377, while 454 counters were unchanged, 1,023 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.24 billion units worth RM1.51 billion versus 1.97 billion units worth RM1.41 billion on Friday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.67, Public Bank increased 1 sen to RM3.86, CIMB Bank and IHH Healthcare gained 3 sen each to RM5.19 and RM5.82, while Tenaga Nasional slid 2 sen to RM9.03.
Among the actives, newly listed SkyWorld shed 6 sen to 74 sen, RGB International fell 3.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Sarawak Consolidated eased 0.5 sen to 46 sen while MyEG improved 4 sen to 75.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 32.17 points to 10,198.65, the FBMT 100 Index improved 32.38 points to 9,892.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 46.02 points better at 10,477.20, the FBM 70 Index increased 17.94 points to 13,463.63, while the FBM ACE Index edged up 18.57 points to 5,158.44.
Sector-wise, the financial services index added 24.86 points to 15,402.35, the industrial products and services index earned 0.63 of-a-point to 158.88, the energy index perked 14.24 points to 806.44, and the plantation index climbed 24.77 points to 6,827.70.
The Main Market volume strengthened to 1.61 billion units valued at RM1.31 billion from 1.4 billion units valued at RM1.21 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover rose to 240.71 million units worth RM36.50 million against 209.55 million units worth RM32.95 million on Friday.
The ACE Market volume widened to 381.81 million shares valued at RM159.22 million from 364.04 million shares valued at RM161.90 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 341.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (334.13 million); construction (86.28 million); technology (165.89 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (62.14 million); property (367.30 million); plantation (26.91 million); REITs (7.02 million), closed/fund (55,800); energy (107.35 million); healthcare (35.97 million); telecommunications and media (38.33 million); transportation and logistics (15.56 million); and utilities (23.60 million).