At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.15 points to 1,499.18 from 1,496.03 at yesterday’s close.

The benchmark index opened 2.49 points higher at 1,498.52.

Public Bank lifted the composite index by 1.32 points after rising four sen to RM4.68 with 383,800 shares transacted.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers 110 to 92, while 201 counters were unchanged, 1,870 not traded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 152.39 million units worth RM36.45 million.

Rakuten Trade vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said he expects the FBM KLCI to consolidate within the 1,490 to 1,500 range today.

Meanwhile, he noted that the price of crude palm oil (CPO) remained on an uptrend, ending at RM4,070 per tonne, tracking the upswing in the soyabean oil price.

“If this continues, we expect buying interest on plantation stocks to emerge as the prevailing weak ringgit is also a catalyst for CPO price,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank bagged two sen to RM8.90, Petronas Chemicals added a sen to RM8.74 and Tenaga rose three sen to RM8.38, while IHH Healthcare and CIMB were flat at RM6.41 and RM5.28, respectively.

Of the actives, G3 Global perked up 1.5 sen to 5.5 sen, BIG Industries gained five sen to 81 sen, and Olympia and Top Glove added a sen each to eight sen and 99.5 sen, respectively, while Ho Wah slid half-a-sen to 14.5 sen and Hextar slipped a sen to 35 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 18.95 points to 10,642.53, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 17.77 points to 10,389.6, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 4.14 points to 10,771.23, and the FBM 70 edged up 5.36 points to 12,757.19.

However, the FBM ACE shed 3.0 points to 4,852.66.

Sector-wise, the financial services index rose 50.9 points to 16,703.68 and the energy index added 1.78 points to 654.31, while the industrial products and services index trimmed 0.05 of-a-point to 182.58 and the plantation index erased 13.72 points to 7,107.41.