At 9.07am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.69 points to 1,417.64 from last Friday’s close of 1,415.95.
The barometer index opened 0.26 of-a-point better at 1,416.21.
The market breadth was marginally positive with gainers leading decliners at 162 versus 145, while 227 counters were unchanged, 1,705 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 242.10 million units valued at RM66.32 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed in negative territory yesterday following news of JPMorgan Chase & Co’s takeover of First Republic Bank, leading many to believe that the United States banking system remains in crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 46 points while the Nasdaq closed 14 points lower as the US Treasury 10-year yield edged higher at 3.57%.
Meanwhile, he said the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on May 3 further affected sentiments with many foreseeing a 25-basis point rate hike.
“Domestically, for today, we expect some accumulation of stocks to emerge and the FBM KLCI index to trend higher after being stuck in a tight range.
“Therefore, we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,415-1,425 range today as we take into account the corporate results season this month,” Thong said to Bernama.
He also noted that plantation counters may continue to see some headwinds as the crude palm oil price dipped to a year-to-date low at below the RM3,400 per tonne level.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga added 1 sen each to RM8.67 and RM8.91 respectively, and Petronas Chemicals rose 2 sen to RM7.10, while Public Bank, CIMB and CelcomDigi were flat at RM3.89, RM5.06, and RM4.40, respectively.
As for the actives, Hong Seng increased 1.5 sen to 14.5 sen, MYEG earned 1 sen to 80 sen and Vinvest Capital added 0.5 sen to 21 sen, while Reach Energy was flat at 4.5 sen and Revenue Group eased 1.5 sen to 36 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 6.26 points to 10,402.65, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 6.28 points to 10,086.50 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 5.53 points to 10,742.32.
Meanwhile, the FBM ACE Index was 31.87 points lower at 5,336.51 and the FBM 70 Index dropped 15.30 points to 13,507.28.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index fell 0.43 of-a-point to 171.02, while the energy index went up 0.87 of-a-point to 847.24, the financial services index rose 22.06 points to 15,541.59 and the plantation index was 4.11 points firmer at 6,821.49.
The market was closed yesterday for Labour Day.