At 9.53am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.64 points to 1,748.52, after opening 15.21 points higher at 1,756.09, compared with last Friday’s close of 1,740.88.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 376 to 370, while 465 counters were unchanged. A total of 1,417 counters were untraded and 62 suspended.
Market turnover stood at 756.30 million shares valued at RM597.06 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.05% to 49,407.66, and the S&P500 rose 0.54% to 6,976.64, while Nasdaq climbed to 23,592.11 overnight.
“In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index continued to finish lower as growing concerns over stretched technology valuations and aggressive artificial intelligence-related investment continued to weigh on sentiment,” he noted.
Back home, he said the benchmark index remains in a healthy uptrend mode, while intermittent profit-taking might continue after the recent rally. “The strengthening of the ringgit is expected to provide support to the local market. As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to continue oscillating within the 1,730-1,750 range today,” he added.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank added 10 sen to RM11.90, while Public Bank gained 5.0 sen to RM4.92, and Tenaga Nasional put on 12 sen to RM14.06. CIMB and IHH Healthcare edged down one sen each to RM8.57 and RM8.95, respectively.
On the most active list, Pharmaniaga was one sen higher at 29.5 sen, Zetrix AI inched up half-a-sen to 81 sen, Capital A eased 1.5 sen to 60 sen, Tanco slid 3.0 sen to RM1.33, and Gamuda shed 20 sen to RM4.22.
Top gainers included Nestle, which advanced RM2.00 to RM114, while Malaysian Pacific Industries was 58 sen firmer at RM32.58, and Ajinomoto expanded 28 sen to RM13.92. Dutchlady Milk Industries gained 22 sen to RM33.22, and Telekom Malaysia bounced 21 sen to RM8.11.
Among leading decliners, Fraser & Neave fell 96 sen to RM34.80, Hong Leong Bank dropped 68 sen to RM25.12, and Petronas Dagangan slipped 40 sen to RM20.80. Tradeplus shrank 33 sen to RM5.87, and RHB Bank was 21 sen easier at RM8.24.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 40.32 points to 12,602.34, the FBM Emas Index recovered 36.52 points to 12,782.51, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 40.97 points to 12,316.29.
The FBM ACE Index erased 3.97 points to 4,719.03, and the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 29.35 points to 17,538.93.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went down 4.36 points to 21,505.82, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.36 of-a-point to 175.92, the Plantation Index gained 36.59 points to 8,401.15, and the Energy Index fell 4.46 points to 754.47.
Meanwhile, Guocoland (Malaysia) Bhd (GLM) announced that Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has approved the company’s request for suspension in the trading of the ordinary shares in GLM with effect from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm on Tuesday, Feb 3, pending the release of a material announcement.