KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's gains to open higher in early trade today, tracking the Wall Street risk-on mode in reaction to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish statement, dealers said 

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.23 points to 1,486.04  compared with 1,482.81 at Wednesday’s close.

The index opened 2.65 points better at 1,485.46.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 205 to 79, while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,843 untraded and 37 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 149.77 million units valued at RM104.29 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI ended marginally higher after erasing all its intraday losses as banking and healthcare heavyweights led the rebound prior to the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting yesterday.

"Despite the Fed signalling a quicker pace of taper and three rate hikes in 2022 to fight inflation, Wall Street rebounded and cheered positively on the move. We believe the buying interest may spillover towards the local front, especially on technology stocks, mirroring the movement on Nasdaq,” it said.

The brokerage firm noted that the crude oil price rebounded marginally to stay above the US$73 per barrel mark, while crude palm oil (CPO) price extended losses.

"Traders may focus on the technology sector on the back of the Nasdaq rebound overnight. Besides, market participants may put 5G-related counters on the radar following the kick-off of 5G services in Malaysia.

"Meanwhile, we also believe Sarawak-related stocks may be boosted ahead of the state election,” it added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM8.12, while IHH Healthcare eased one sen to RM6.47,  Tenaga shed two sen to RM9.27, and Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.01 and RM8.61, respectively.

Of the actives, Aurelius rose 10 sen to RM1.46, SMTrack improved half-a-sen to nine sen, while ATA IMS and Malayan United Industries slid half-a-sen each to 69 sen and 6.5 sen, respectively, and Top Builders was flat at four sen.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia, in a statement yesterday, announced the change in the name of Macpie Bhd with a short stock name of Macpie to XOX Networks Bhd with a short name of XOXNet, effective 9 am on Friday, Dec 17, 2021.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 31.78 points higher at 10,847.22, the FBMT 100 Index up 28.68 points to 10,537.85, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 36.13 points to 11,676.40.

The FBM 70 rose 61.20 points to 14,000.50 and the FBM ACE inched up 5.90 points to 6,204.03.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.56 of-a-point to 194.48, the Financial Services Index advanced 42.20 points to 15,149.12, and the Plantation Index gained 10.94 points to 6,397.98. — Bernama