Momentuming the positive trend of Wall Street, the local Stock Exchange opened high.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, took the factors that are happening to the local off-market equity to recover to trade in the 1,500 range today.
Also, technology stocks may be in the running while the energy and agriculture sectors are expected to experience a sell-off based on lower oil prices.
Meanwhile, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 0.42 points at 1,491.77 from Wednesday's close at 1,491.35 with a weak opening of 0.48 points at 1,490.87.
In the broader market, gainers at 192 outpaced losers at 92, while 192 counters were unchanged, 1,814 untraded and 9 suspended.
Total revenue at 108.54 million units worth RM58.3 million.
Heavyweight stocks saw Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Public Bank Bhd add 2 sen to RM8.95 and RM4.66, IHH Healthcare Bhd reached 4 sen to RM6.24, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost 13 sen to RM8.87 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was down 2 sen at RM5.38.
Active stocks showed Metronic Global Bhd and SNS Network Technology Bhd up 0.5 sen at 6.5 sen and 26.5 sen, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd added 1 sen at 16 sen and Orgabio Holdings Bhd jumped 3 sen at 35 sen while Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd lost 3 sen at 97 penny
On the index board, the FBM Emas index gained 9.03 points at 10,594.40, the FBMT 100 index jumped 9.16 points at 10,342.46, the FBM 70 recovered 36.49 points at 12,716.46, the FBM Emas Shariah index gathered 7.95 points at 10,672.53 and the FBM ACE gained 8.43 points at 4,782.
In terms of sectors, the Plantation index weakened by 15.24 points at 7,013.59, the Products and Services index decreased by 0.57 points at 184.48 and the Energy index decreased by 11.38 points at 697.81 while the Financial Services index strengthened by 5.09 points at 16,718.12.
