KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia gained ground in the morning session buoyed by a positive recovery on Wall Street fuelled by stronger-than-expected results from certain tech giants.
At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 4.39 points, or 0.28 per cent, rising to 1,593.98 from its previous close of 1,589.59 on Friday.
The overall market sentiment remained positive, with 513 stocks recording gains compared to 435 losers, while 477 remained unchanged.
According to Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, Wall Street showed renewed interest due to lower-than-anticipated jobs data and positive momentum from Apple's financial results, along with its significant share buyback program.
They noted in their recent note that buying interest in the technology sector is likely to persist in the short term.
"We like the utilities sector as the data centre investment should boost electricity demand going forward.
"Besides, we favour the construction, property, solar and building material segments with the catalyst like the potential revival of mega infra projects and the ongoing execution of the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) masterplans," it added.
On the commodity market, Brent oil further retraced and traded nearer to US$83, while the crude palm oil (CPO) continued to see base support near RM3,800.