Bursa Malaysia remains in a positive groove ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) announcement on the overnight policy rate (OPR) this evening (Wednesday).
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI gained 2.32 points to 1,533.83 from 1,531.51 at Wednesday's close.
The benchmark index opened 0.19 points higher at 1,531.70 and is now moving between 1,531.70 to 1,539.60 during this morning's trading session.
However, broad market sentiment was negative with losers outnumbering gainers by 416 to 413. Meanwhile, 424 counters were unchanged, 1,022 were untraded and 29 others were suspended.
The total turnover was 1.89 billion units worth RM1.17 billion.
Economists' predictions are correct in expecting the OPR to remain unchanged at 3% after it was announced by BNM at the meeting a while ago.
At the local level, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects buying support to be seen in commodity sectors such as oil and gas, gold and plantations as they have a stronger commodity base given the potential for interest rate cuts later.
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell in his testimony to Congress last night said that interest rates will be cut this year even though borrowing costs remain high in the future.
Investors should also keep an eye on the US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) economic data that will be published tomorrow Thursday.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd gained one sen to RM9.65, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose four sen to RM6.55, Public Bank Bhd was unchanged at RM4.30 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was unchanged at RM6.96. Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional Bhd dropped two sen to RM11.14.
As for active shares, Powerwell Holdings Bhd gained four sen to 35 sen, Thriven Global Bhd rose 2.5 sen to 13 sen, Widad Group Bhd was unchanged at 9.5 sen and TWL Holdings Bhd was unchanged at 3.5 sen while Vizione Holdings Bhd lost one sen to 4.5 penny
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index strengthened by 16.00 points to 11,376.73, the FBMT 100 Index increased by 13.73 points to 11,040.18, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 19.64 points to 11,385.57 and the FBM 70 Index gained 6.81 points to 15,318.41 while the FBM ACE Index decreased by 10.02 points to 4,671.42.
In terms of sectors, the Financial Services Index jumped 18.45 points to 17,250.28, the Plantation Index gained 30.51 points to 7,250.55, the Energy Index rose 2.49 points to 898.36, and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.37 to 174.78.
