Bursa Malaysia continued its positive trading session with moderate buying interest supporting the index for a good opening of 43 sen.
At 9am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 6.40 points at 1,473.66 from Wednesday's close of 1,467.26.
The index opened positive 3.11 points at 1,470.37.
In the broader market, gainers at 237 outnumbered losers at 104, while 233 counters were unchanged, 1,758 untraded and 7 suspended.
Total revenue at 236.73 million units worth RM90.93 million.
Rakuten Trade vice president Thong Pak Leng commented that despite the increase, investors continue to be cautious of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium this weekend.
He added that strong rumors are circulating in the market that tomorrow's speech will give a boost to investor sentiment.
In the meantime, the KLCI index is expected that bargain-hunting activities will not appear as the sentiment remains cautious.
Based on these factors, the index is predicted to hover in the range of 1,460 to 1,475 today with buying interest focused on the energy sector.
Heavyweight stocks saw Maybank reach 4 sen at RM8.85, Public Bank and Press Metal added 1 sen at RM4.63 and RM4.66 while Petronas Chemicals fell 3 sen at RM8.47.
Active stocks saw Hibiscus Petroleum gain 3 sen at 99 sen and TWL Holdings remain at 5 sen while Serba Dinamik and its warrants remained at 4.5 sen and 1.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index rose 47.58 points at 10,497.93, the FBMT 100 index reached 45.88 points at 10,236.21, the FBM 70 added 62.51 points at 12,663.51 and the FBM ACE rose 21.36 points at 4,896.33 while the FBM Emas Shariah index jumped 55.05 points at 10,558.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services index gained 46.60 points at 16,597.55 and the Energy index rose 10.75 points at 717.94 while the Plantation index recovered 29.96 points at 6,890.79 and the Products and Services index added 0.24 points at 180.13.
