Bursa Malaysia recorded modest gains in early trading today to continue trading at 20-month highs as buying interest prevailed in the local market and was supported by the upcoming earnings season.
At exactly 9.05 this morning, the benchmark FBM KLCI gained 0.24 points to 1,533.79 from 1,533.55 at Friday's close.
The main index opened 0.20 points lower at 1,533.35.
Meanwhile, market sentiment was positive where gainers outnumbered losers 178 to 158. Meanwhile, 293 counters were unchanged, 1,669 counters were not traded and nine others were suspended.
The total turnover was 246.41 million units worth RM55.58 million.
According to Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed at its highest level since June 2022 as purchases by foreign funds continued.
As the US market faces many headwinds, some funds will flow into the region to find some stability.
Thong notes that the retail market remains subdued and will improve this week as everyone returns to work. Today, they expect the index to hover in the 1,535 to 1,545 range.
In addition, Wall Street is seen retreating due to the 'hotter' than expected inflation data and strengthening market participants' expectations that the Fed may delay its rate cut.
The Dow Jones average lost 145 points and the Nasdaq lost 130 points as the US 10-year yield edged slightly higher at 4.281 percent.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it expects traders to look for opportunities in companies that are developing fundamentally as Malaysia heads into the corporate earnings season.
Looking at the heavyweight share market, YTL rose three sen to RM2.21, KLK rose 20 sen to RM22.74 and YTL Power rose two sen to RM3.84. Maybank dropped two sen to RM9.41 and Petronas Chemicals dropped three sen to RM6.85.
As for active stocks, TWL, Pan Malaysia and Destini were unchanged at 3.5 sen, 14 sen and 5.0 sen respectively. Hong Seng rose half a sen to 2.5 sen and Minetech rose one sen to 20 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 4.12 points to 11,409.38, the FBMT 100 Index increased 1.17 points to 11,054.77 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 7.05 points to 11,465.54,
The FBM 70 Index fell 0.81 points to 15,400.00 and the FBM ACE Index fell 0.86 points to 4,904.43.
In terms of sectors, the Financial Services Index decreased 22.42 points to 17,194.13, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 0.53 points to 175.58, the Plantation Index added 13.70 points to 7,267.93, and the Energy Index increased 0.38 of a point to 895.46.
