Bursa Malaysia opened this morning lower but it turned positive soon after and continued the rise recorded yesterday.
Local markets were seen bucking regional trends after US stocks closed on a public holiday and investors began to look at the reasoning behind China's central bank delaying interest rate cuts yesterday.
At 9.20am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.34 points to 1,502.45 from 1,501.11 at the end of the previous trade. The index opened down 0.81 points to 1,500.82.
A total of 550.29 million units worth RM288.48 million.
Overall market sentiment was positive where gainers outnumbered losers by 248 to 232. Meanwhile, 363 counters were unchanged, 1,374 counters were not traded and 19 others were suspended.
According to Rakuten Trade Equity Research, Wall Street was closed due to the public holiday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr Day yesterday. However, many investors expect the market to remain lackluster due to mixed earnings reports from banks in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed lower after investors were slightly disappointed by China's central bank keeping interest rates on hold after the country's main commercial banks lowered their respective deposit rates.
At the local level, the FBM KLCI closed above the 1,500 level following the buying activity of heavyweight stocks in the market.
Meanwhile, heavyweights saw Maybank drop one sen to RM9.07, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional down two sen to RM4.34 and RM10.48 respectively, CIMB added two sen to RM6.02 and Petronas Chemicals rose one sen. sen to RM6.96.
As for active shares, Tanco rose three sen to 65.5 sen, Insas and Eastern and Oriental warrants added two sen to 41.5 sen and 95 sen respectively. Sealink International gained 1.5 sen to 23 sen and Hong Seng Consolidated was unchanged at 53.5 sen.
