KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Bursa Malaysia has maintained its uptrend this morning, taking its cue from the Wall Street’s solid performance as traders are convinced that the United States’ (US) economy is on the right recovery track.
This was fuelled by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s assurance that the central bank can reinvigorate the economy without stoking painful inflation.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.34 points to 1,614.74 from Thursday’s close of 1,602.40.
The index opened 12.55 points higher at 1,614.95.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 275 to 211, while 300 counters were unchanged, 1,371 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume stood at 403.91 million shares worth RM276.73 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse is tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street, especially Nasdaq, as the positive sentiment is expected to spill over to technology stocks on the local front.
Commodity-wise, crude palm oil prices saw a modest decline while the Brent crude oil price edged higher, it noted.
“As for sectors in focus, we expect buying interest to emerge in the technology sector, especially those that are in the oversold region.
“Market participants may look into consumer, aviation, property and construction sectors for recovery-theme exposure,” it said.
Meanwhile, the research house said with the FBM KLCI staying above the 1,600 psychological level with trading volume doubling, the market may trade with resistance pegged at 1,615 to 1,635, while the support level is set at 1,565 to 1,575.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM8.28, RM4.22 and RM7.81, respectively, while Tenaga gained six sen to RM10.20 and IHH Healthcare eased three sen to RM5.27.
Among the active counters, SYF Resources improved one sen to 45 sen, KTG and AT Systematization edged up half- a-sen each to 28 sen and 11.5 sen, respectively, LKL eased one sen to 44 sen, while VSolar was flat at three sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up 66.92 points to 11,929.62, the FBMT 100 increased 65.29 points to 11,573.09, the FBM Emas Shariah advanced 91.17 points to 13,314.28, the FBM ACE expanded 84.90 points to 10,013.99 and the FBM 70 edged up 0.59 of-a-point to 15,856.73.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.01 of-a-point to 193.7, the Plantation Index went down 10.45 points to 6,976.15, while the Financial Services Index rose 75.45 points to 15,288.90. — Bernama
