Bursa Malaysia opened firmer this morning, reversing yesterday’s losses, on the back of improved sentiment.

As at 9.06am, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 7.21 points higher at 1,597.4 after opening 7.32 points better at 1,597.51.

The uptrend was in tandem with the overnight gains posted on Wall Street as investors shifted their focus to the release of US economic data on Friday.

A dealer said the data would likely indicate whether the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its meeting this month.

However, AllianceDBS Research said FBM KLCI would likely trade below the 1,583.63 level today as buying power was weaker than selling pressure.

“The benchmark index would likely test a lower level again with an immediate support at 1,580. A fall below 1,580 would put pressure on the market down to the subsequent support zone of 1,550–1,570,” it said in a note.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 45.27 points to 10,909.6, the FBMT100 Index improved 41.88 points to 10,660.1 and the FBM Emas Syariah earned 28.47 points to 11,410.14.

The FBM 70 gained 22.42 points to 11,598.61 and the FBM Ace added 6.97 points to 4,973.18.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index chalked up 73.27 points to 14,061.64, the Industrial Index increased 14.16 points to 3,073.42 but the Plantation Index eased 9.6 points to 6,824.8.

Market breadth was positive with advancers leading decliners 135 to 51, while 89 counters remained unchanged, 1,501 untraded and nine others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 72.7 million shares worth RM35.28 million.

Among actives, AirAsia and KNM gained 1.5 sen each to 97 sen and 47.5 sen, respectively, while both Metronic and Nexgram were flat at seven sen and 7.5 sen, respectively.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose seven sen to RM8.49, Public Bank leaped 10 sen to RM17.84, TNB gained eight sen to RM11.20 but Axiata fell one sen to RM5.90 while and Maxis fell five sen to RM6.50.

- Bernama