KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Bursa Malaysia has remained on an uptrend on Wednesday (Jan 12) morning, supported by continuous buying momentum in selected heavyweights, dealers said.
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At 9.26am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.46 points to 1,566.75 from 1,564.29 at Tuesday’s close.
The index opened 0.1 of-a-point higher at 1,564.39.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 335 to 159, while 292 counters were unchanged, 1,481 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 485.17 million units worth RM195.18 million.
While investors may be bracing for interest rate hikes and uncertainties due to the new Covid-19 variant, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it expected to see some recovery on the local bourse as sentiment may be lifted by the upcoming National Recovery Plan (NRP) 2.0.
“The FBM KLCI extended its winning streak on Tuesday despite the cautious sentiment across regional bourses, propelled by selected banking heavyweights.
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“The overnight rallies on Wall Street could [also] spill over to the local front. Commodity-wise, crude oil price jumped to close above the US$83 per barrel mark, while crude palm oil (CPO) price remained above RM5,000,” it said in a note on Wednesday.
The research firm also expected oil and gas and plantation counters to be well supported by the firm commodity prices, while investors may see buying interest in consumer and recovery theme sectors as the government works on drafting the NRP 2.0.
Of the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd slipped one sen to RM8.49, Public Bank Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd improved one sen each to RM4.24 and RM5.63, respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lifted five sen to RM8.95, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM6.65.
Of the actives, OCR Group Bhd shed one sen to 17.5 sen, SMTrack Bhd and AT Systematization Bhd were both flat at 30 sen and three sen, respectively, while Sapura Energy Bhd earned half-a-sen to 5.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 30.61 points higher at 11,318.18, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 45.39 points to 12,081.76, the FBM 70 climbed 75.96 points to 14,224.97, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 26.81 points to 11,013.58, and the FBM ACE gained 14.88 points to 6,631.55.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.89 of-a-point to 204 and the Financial Services Index advanced 2.04 points to 16,179.17, while the Plantation Index reduced 2.35 points to 6,766.27.-BERNAMA