Apex Securities Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said that the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) made modest gains largely driven by selected banking heavyweights amid the improved prospects of US interest rate cuts following the weaker-than-expected jobs data last Friday.
“The gains were also in line with the mostly positive performance by regional peers,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Sedek Jantan said the barometer index ended higher today, mirroring the robust performance of the regional markets and Wall Street.
“Sentiment on Bursa has been notably bullish, bolstered by the Japan Nikkei 225 index which hit another record high,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.96% to 41,580.17, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.64% to 3,426.09, South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.34% to 2,867.38, and Shanghai SSE Composite Index gained 1.26% to 2,959.37.
Leong said going forward, Apex Securities expects the key index to tread cautiously.
He said investors are monitoring the US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony, whereby markets are anticipating that he will remain supportive over the prospects of interest rate cuts amid the recent cooling labour market.
“Also, as we march into the middle of the month, investors will keep an eye on the slew of corporate earnings releases on Wall Street.
“Back home, Malaysia’s unemployment data will be in focus tomorrow,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 3.4 points to 1,614.42 from Friday’s close of 1,611.02.
The market was closed yesterday in conjunction with the Awal Muharram replacement holiday.
The key index, which opened 6.12 points firmer at 1,617.14, moved between 1,613.15 and 1,618.02 throughout the day.
However, on the broader market, decliners led gainers 666 to 529, with 480 counters unchanged, 729 untraded, and 13 suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.65 billion units worth RM3.84 billion from 4.34 billion units worth RM2.95 billion last Friday.
Among the Bursa heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB bagged 2 sen each to RM10.06 and RM6.97 respectively, Public Bank improved 7 sen to RM4.11, Tenaga Nasional rose 20 sen to RM14.42, while IHH Healthcare eased 2 sen to RM6.30.
As for the most active counters, newly-listed Johor Plantations Group Bhd perked up 6 sen to 90 sen, Hubline was 1 sen higher at 8 sen, Bumi Armada added 2 sen to 60 sen, ATA IMS gained 5.5 sen to 55.5 sen, and K-One technology climbed 3 sen to 32.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 27.89 points to 12,472.88, the FBMT 100 Index firmed 33.05 points to 12,045.93, the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 21.24 points to 12,828.12, the FBM 70 Index jumped 78.6 points to 18,464.10, and the FBM ACE Index dipped 16.05 points to 5,950.26.
Sector-wise, the financial services index surged 106.33 points to 17,709.77, the industrial products and services index notched up 0.17 of-a-point to 200.09 but the energy index fell 2.18 points to 984.57 and the plantation index dropped 73.52 points to 6,932.12.
The Main Market volume swelled to 2.74 billion units valued at RM3.4 billion from 2.24 billion units valued at RM2.42 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover edged up to 987.46 million units worth RM116.99 million compared with 987.05 million units worth RM141.13 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 920.83 million shares valued at RM322.83 million against 1.1 billion shares valued at RM389.59 million on Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 382.59 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (629.3 million); construction (188.27 million); technology (299.2 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (144.07 million); property (216.33 million); plantation (211.8 million); REITs (8.77 million); closed/fund (6,000); energy (272.42 million); healthcare (84.22 million); telecommunications and media (58.01 million); transportation and logistics (187.5 million); utilities (62.46 million); and business trusts (970,400).