All eyes will be on Malaysia’s unemployment rate for which the data will be released soon, according to Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd.
The securities firm said the lower liners could also undergo a consolidation after a solid performance last week.
“While the recovery is still in place, we expect the upside may be limited amid quick profit-taking activities,” Bernama quoted the firm as saying.
“Additionally, we reckon that the focus would shift towards the upcoming barrage of corporate earnings in the US,” it said.
Commodities wise, the Brent crude oil recovered above US$78 per barrel, while the crude palm oil price slipped towards near RM3,800 per tonne.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) began the day at 1,377.56 points, just 0.11 of a point lower than last Friday’s close of 1,377.67 points.
However, it recovered quickly to chalk up a gain of 3.81 points within the first 17 minutes of trading to settle at 1,381.48 points.
The renewed buying interest was driven by lower prices but the market will remain cautious, a dealer told Bernama.
On the broader market, advancers led decliners by 185 to 165. A total of 291 counters were unchanged, 1,618 were not traded and 26 others were suspended.
The turnover stood at 275.21 million units worth RM141.91 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.67 and RM5.16 respectively, Public Bank improved two sen to RM3.87, IHH Healthcare added a sen to RM5.80, while TNB slipped a sen to RM9.04.
Of the actives, SkyWorld was flat at 80 sen, MyEG went up 3.5 sen to 75 sen, while Sarawak Consolidated eased half-a-sen to 46 sen, and RGB International shed a sen to 37 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 26.01 points to 10,192.49, the FBMT 100 Index was 26.75 points better at 9,887.07, the FBM ACE Index edged up 9.0 points to 5,148.87, the FBM 70 Index perked up 34.27 points to 13,479.96, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 28.72 points to 10,459.90.
Sector-wise, the financial services index garnered 34.42 points to 15,441.91, the energy index rose 10.27 points to 802.47, the plantation index climbed 11.03 points to 6,813.96, and the industrial products and services index slid 0.09 of-a-point to 158.16.