On Bursa, the benchmark index rebounded from yesterday’s poor showing by breaching and then staying above the 1,500 psychological level.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.23 points to end the day at its intraday-high of 1,505.56 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,492.33, driven by continuous buying momentum in selected index-linked counters led by Press Metal.
The benchmark index opened 5.48 points better at 1,497.81 this morning and remained in positive territory throughout the session.
Banking stocks were mostly upbeat, including CIMB, Maybank, Hong Leong Financial Group, Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank, and RHB Bank in response to slower-than-expected inflation data in the US which might provide some space for the Federal Reserve not to hike rates aggressively.
The broader market was bullish as gainers overwhelmed losers 628 to 260, while 379 counters were unchanged, 1,016 not traded, and 12 others suspended.
Total turnover increased to 2.55 billion units worth RM1.97 billion from 2.17 billion units worth RM1.68 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the strong performance in Malaysian equities was in sync with regional bourses which were mostly higher following the positive cues from the overnight gains on Wall Street.
“As for the local bourse, we are cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the local market sentiment and foreign support,” he told Bernama.
“We expect the market uptrend to continue towards the weekend with the FBM KLCI hovering within the 1,500 to 1,515 region, with immediate resistance at 1,510 followed by 1,530, and support at 1,480,” he added.
A dealer said risk appetite in the market was also fuelled by the anticipation of a bullish second-quarter (Q2) gross domestic product (GDP) growth, to be announced by Bank Negara Malaysia tomorrow.
Analysts reckoned that Malaysia is likely to report a stronger GDP growth – at between 5.5% and 6.5% – in Q2 following a stronger-than-expected jump in the industrial production index in June 2022 of 12.1%.
Among heavyweights, two-thirds of the 30-index linked counters recorded gains today led by Press Metal which rose 4.04% or 19 sen to RM4.89 with 12.17 million shares changing hands, making it the largest contributor to the rise in the composite index with 2.672 points.
Maybank gained four sen to RM8.94, Public Bank perked up two sen to RM4.65, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare rose six sen each to RM8.78 and RM6.48 respectively, CIMB advanced seven sen to RM5.37, while Tenaga surged 1.78% or six sen to RM6.48.
Of the actives, Metronic and G3 Global slipped half-a-sen each to five sen and three sen respectively, SFP Tech bagged 19 sen to RM1.13, Fintec was flat at one sen, while Green Packet inched up half-a-sen to 5.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM emas index was 121.3 points firmer at 10,683.04, the FBMT 100 index surged 117.07 points to 10,431.23, the FBM emas shariah index soared 140.81 points to 10,810.11, the FBM 70 jumped 245.85 points to 12,797.95, and the FBM ACE increased 117.47 points to 4,949.1.
Sector-wise, the financial services index climbed 126.41 points to 16,776.02, the energy index improved 12.28 points to 658.92, the industrial products and services index went up 3.07 points to 184.02, while the plantation index rose 32.38 points to 7,156.25.
The main market volume expanded to 1.64 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion from 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover declined to 308.49 million units valued at RM56.64 million versus 322.59 million units valued at RM47.53 million yesterday.
The ACE market volume swelled to 604.56 million shares worth RM282.21 million from 365.79 million shares worth RM130.92 million previously.