Bursa Malaysia opens higher in line with Wall Street's gains

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open slightly higher on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight despite the cautious mode ahead of monetary policy decisions around the globe this week.

At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.59 of-a-point to 1,474.97 from yesterday's closing of 1,474.38.

The market bellwether opened 2.15 points higher at 1,476.53.

On the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 234 to 95, while 231 counters were unchanged, 1,702 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 212.65 million units worth RM143.79 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street staged a relief rebound as focus had now shifted to new inflation data and the United States Federal Reserve's move on interest rates.

Nevertheless, he said, the local bourse was expected to continue its lacklustre session as sentiment remained cautious in line with a weaker performance regionally.

"We expect the same for today despite the rebound on Wall Street overnight; hence expect the index to maintain its trend within the 1,470-1,485 range," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed two sen to RM8.68, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals eased one sen each to RM4.39 and RM8.47, respectively, and CIMB and TNB both added two sen each to RM5.76 and RM9.22, respectively.

Of the actives, newly Main Market-listed ITMAX jumped 37 sen to RM1.44, Velesto inched up half-a-sen to 16 sen, Yew Lee rose one sen to 37 sen, Advance Synergy stayed flat at 18 sen, and Leform gained 1.5 sen to 22 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 15.16 points to 10,601.68, the FBMT 100 Index ticked up 13.83 points to 10,302.41, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 21.74 points to 10,754.89, the FBM 70 edged up 56.43 points to 12,974.70, and the FBM ACE rose 27.23 points to 5,520.87.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 8.23 points higher at 16,548.06, the Plantation Index added 6.09 points lower at 6,758.58, the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.23 of-a-point to 181.66, and the Energy Index climbed 6.77 points to 785.23.

-- BERNAMA