At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved by 3.88 points to 1,625.97 from Tuesday’s close of 1,622.09.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday for the Wesak Day public holiday.
The barometer index opened 1.43 points lower at 1,620.66.
On the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 273 to 189, with 358 counters unchanged, 1,569 untraded, and 10 others suspended.
Turnover was 288.40 million shares worth RM137.15 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the American chipmaker Nvidia’s results and US higher tariffs should provide decent buying support in the stock market and may bode well for the technology and electronics manufacturing services sectors.
“Also, we opine that the construction, building materials, property, and solar industries may trade higher given the potential revival of mega infra projects like the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) as well as optimism over the execution of National Energy Transition Roadmap and New Industrial Master Plan master plans,” it said in a note today.
Meanwhile, in the US, the firm said the overall market sentiment turned negative after the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting minutes indicated that inflationary pressure remained persistent and the market is pricing in the possibility that the Fed may maintain a hawkish stance in the near term.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank added one sen to RM10.00, Tenaga Nasional rose eight sen to RM12.86, CIMB firmed six sen to RM6.90, Public Bank was unchanged at RM4.19 and Petronas Chemicals fell two sen to RM7.01.
As for the actives, Ingenieur and Malayan United were flat at seven sen and six sen respectively, AHB Holdings eased half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, Sin-Kung erased one sen to 14 sen, while JCY International inched up 2.5 sen to 41.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 34.64 points to 12,392.48, the FBMT 100 Index widened 34.28 points to 11,985.53, the FBM 70 Index gained 73.96 points to 17,802.13, the FBM ACE Index stronger 14.02 points to 5,437.39 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 25.33 points to 12,615.54.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 53.74 points to 17,746.81, the Plantation Index inched up by 10.28 points to 7,300.95 and the Energy Index rose marginally by 0.43 of-a-point to 994.22.
However, the Industrial Products and Services Index shrank 0.17 of-a-point to 196.50.