KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market started cautiously on Tuesday after the previous day’s selling as investors awaited the corporate results period to hit its stride.
At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 0.76 points to 1,610.02, mimicking the marginal increase on major US indices overnight. How4ever, the rebound on the index picked up to over five points within the first five minutes to 1,614.36, on the back of a jump in blue chips such as Maybank and Tenaga Nasional.
Malacca Securities Research expects the buying interest to pick up on the local market as the US market maintains its rally while the US dollar continues to strengthen.
In US equity markets on Monday night, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, to 44,293, the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, to 6,001 and the Nasdaq Composite was little changed at 19,298.
“We believe buying interest may extend to the local bourse, particularly in the export-related sectors like technology and glove,” it said in a note.
Meanwhile, the research firm anticipates the supply of vegetable oil to tighten amid the implementation of higher biodiesel mandates in Indonesia, which will benefit local plantations like Johor Plantation Group, following the strong CPO price.
Also, selected construction and building materials stocks are expected to gain momentum in the earnings season, supported by ongoing data centre investments.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was up eight sne to RM10.42 while CIMB gained seven sen to RM8.23 and Public Bank rose three sen to RM4.44.
Tenaga Nasional rallied 16 sen to RM14.25 while YTL Power added four sen to RM3.21. Maxis jumped six sen to RM3.59.
Of actives, Mpire Global climbed four sen to 24 sen, Velesto dropped 0.5 sen to 18 sen and Aizo was up 0.5 sen to 15.5 sen.
-TheStar