KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia traded higher in the shadow of Wall Street following the positive performance of the Dow Jones as investors attempted to move on from the banking crisis.
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At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up five points to 1,401.6, within the trading range of the previous trading session.
“Given the rally on the Dow Jones overnight, contributed by the First Citizens Bancshares-SVB acquisition deal, which has lifted the sentiment on the banking stocks, the Asian stock markets and the local bourse are likely to move higher for the session,” said Malacca Securities Research in a note.
“Technical indicators remained mixed as the MACD Histogram extended a positive bar, while the RSI hovered below 50. Support is located at 1,370-1,380 and resistance is pegged around 1,420-1,440.”
Bank stocks led the rally on the FBM KLCI with Maybank gaining two sen to RM8.46, Public Bank rising three sen to RM3.92, CIMB adding three sen to RM5.19 and Hong Leong Bank adding 20 sne to RM20.18.
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Press Metal rose five sen to RM4.74 and PETRONAS Chemicals gained five sen to RM6.87.
On the broader markets, Heineken rose 30 sen to RM27, United Plantations added 20 sen to RM16.20 and Hengyuan jumped seven sen to RM3.38.
Tech stocks were also seen holding firm with a marginal 0.1% increase despite a drop in the Nasdaq overnight on ongoing interest rate fears, worsened following comments from a Federal Reserve member who projected a higher terminal rate before the central bank halted its rate hikes.
Among top actives, Hong Seng dropped 0.5 sen to 12 sen, Jade Marvel rose 0.5 sen to 30.5 sen and VIS slumped 18 sen to 73 sen. – The Star