KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened slightly higher this morning, lifted by gains in banking stocks, led by Public Bank and CIMB.

Public Bank gained five sen to RM4.46 and CIMB increased six sen to RM5.11.

At 9.32am, the key index rose by 2.78 points to 1,443.59 from Tuesday’s close of 1,440.81.

The benchmark index opened 1.76 points higher at 1,442.57.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 234 to 187, while 241 counters were unchanged, 1,561 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 353.47 million units worth RM157.75 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng expects the buying momentum to persist in the local bourse, but noted that the recent decline in the crude palm oil (CPO) price might result in selling pressure on plantation stocks.

"CPO price dipped to below RM4,200 per tonne due to increasing stockpiles, while Brent crude had also eased to below US$103 per barrel on recessionary fears.

"Therefore, we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,430-1,450 range today,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Malacca Securities said all eyes would be on Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting and the interest rate decision today.

"Additionally, with the Nasdaq’s strong rebound overnight, we believe that buying support would spill over to the tech sector on our local front, and traders may also favour the banking stocks ahead of the conclusion of the MPC meeting.

"We also reckon that traders are likely to avoid the energy and plantation sectors amid the declining commodity prices,” the brokerage firm said in a research note today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM8.64 and IHH Healthcare went up two sen to RM6.42, while Petronas Chemicals shed 14 sen to RM8.98, TNB slipped three sen to RM7.99 and Hong Leong Bank trimmed 20 sen to RM20.42.

As for the actives, Ekovest rose one sen to 41.5 sen, Vinvest Capital went up 1.5 sen to 19 sen, Serba Dinamik and Datasonic edged up half-a-sen each to 8.5 sen and 45.5 sen, respectively, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum discounted seven sen to 93 sen and KNM fell half-a-sen to 12 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 10.90 points to 10,254.41, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 15.22 points to 10,350.91, the FBM 70 slid 5.77 points to 12,301.79, the FBMT 100 Index improved 13.70 points to 10,007.70, and the FBM ACE increased 15.26 points to 4,662.23.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 67.45 points to 16,151.63, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.65 points lower at 179.30, and the Plantation Index narrowed by 4.87 points to 6,810.51. — Bernama