KUALA LUMPUR: Surging oil prices, which have lifted energy index by 6.5 per cent, and optimism over domestic economic recovery, saw Bursa Malaysia ending at a one-month high on Monday.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gains for five days in a row, adding 6.92 points to 1,570.82 at 5 pm today, compared with 1,563.9 at Friday's close.
The bellwether index opened 3.98 of-a-point better at 1,567.88 and fluctuated between 1,567.88 and 1,575.63 throughout the morning trading session.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 737 to 401, while 371 counters were unchanged, 749 untraded and six others suspended.
Turnover increased to 6.90 billion units worth RM3.87 billion from 4.99 billion units worth RM3.34 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said buying support was seen particularly in oil and gas, bank and plantation counters.
"We reckon the full opening of interstate travel within the country is one of the contributing factor to the positive investor sentiment.
"Investors are also bullish on oil and gas, as well as plantation stocks, given the strong crude oil and crude palm oil prices," he told Bernama.
Leng said Rakuten Trade anticipates the index to trend around the 1,560-1,580 range for the week.
"From a technical point of view, we will see immediate resistance at 1,580 followed by the psychological resistance at around 1,600 while immediate support is at 1,550," he noted.
Regionally, the markets exhibit a mixed trend following fresh worries emerged that the US Federal Reserve may begin tapering as early as November.
These worries emerge after US job growth fell to the slowest pace of the year in September amid COVID-19.
The world's largest economy created 194,000 jobs last month, down from 366,000 jobs added in August.
At home, Petronas Chemicals continued to led heavyweights, gaining seven sen to RM8.75, Maybank advanced 11 sen to RM8.16, Press Metal rose four sen to RM6.13, and IHH inched up five sen to RM6.68.
CIMB increased 10 sen to RM5.00, Public Bank was three sen higher at RM4.11 and Genting Malaysia edged up two sen to RM3.15.
As for the active counters, Serba Dinamik added four sen to 40.5 sen, Borneo Oil remained flat at three sen, Kanger International improved half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, AirAsia Group jumped nine sen to RM1.28, while MMAG eased half-a-sen to 10 sen.