KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s gains to open higher today, tracking the Wall Street’s rally overnight amidst improving consumer confidence, said an analyst.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.74 points to 1,441.53 from 1,436.79 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 0.09 of-a-point lower at 1,436.70.

The broader market was also positive as advancers edged past decliners 151 to 139, while 204 counters were unchanged, 1,799 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 183.72 million units worth RM75.56 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street maintained its uptrend as traders digest the United States (US) corporate earnings releases while waiting for the decision from the US Federal Reserve on the interest rate today.

On the domestic front, he said the FBM KLCI notched another positive day yesterday, attributed to a broad-based accumulation of blue chips.

“We believe this may continue as portfolio diversification by some foreign funds may have started a recent decent run within the ASEAN region.

“In view of this, we expect the index to continue its upward trajectory and hover within the 1,435-1,450 range today as banks will be playing catch-up,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM9.01, CIMB and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM5.45 and RM4.07, respectively, Tenaga Nasional expanded one sen to RM9.48 and Petronas Chemicals gained five sen to RM6.81.

Of the actives, Daythree Digital bagged 39 sen to 69 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated increased half-a-sen to 10 sen and ES Ceramics Technology earned two sen to 20.5 sen, while Tanco Holdings was flat at 55.5 sen and UEM Sunrise declined half-a-sen to 47 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 26 points to 10,616.56, the FBMT 100 Index was 26.38 points better at 10,302.95, the FBM 70 Index perked 3.99 points to 13,988.25 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 20.33 points to 10,895.65, while the FBM ACE Index shed 1.40 points to 5,320.27.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index garnered 40.10 points to 16,044.73, the Energy Index rose 3.74 points to 833.94, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.43 of-a-point to 166.73, and the Plantation Index increased 22.76 points to 7,220.78. – Bernama