KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Tuesday, driven by good economic growth amid prospects of lower interest rates ahead.
The FBM KLCI opened 0.89 points higher at 1,628.38 after Wall Street posted a mixed performance overnight, indicating the current rally may be taking a breather.
Losers surpassed gainers 219 to 189, with 349 counters unchanged, 1,632 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover was 293.83 million units worth RM158.41 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said it was a mixed day on Wall Street as the DJIA declined following a record breaking run recently.
On the home front, Thong said the FBM KLCI eased past the 1,620 mark underpinned by persistent accumulation of blue chips.
"We believe such buying to continue as most of the blue chips are still reasonably valued as the broader index currently hovers within the 15 times price earnings (PE) which is lower than its historical 16.0-16.5 times.
"Nonetheless, we expect the index to possibly take a breather ahead of the Wesak Day holiday tomorrow thus expect it to trend between the 1,620-1,635 range today," he told the Business Times.
Among heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd fell one sen to RM9.98, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd down one sen to RM6.83 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd fell three sen to RM7.06.
Top actives, meanwhile, were market debutant Feytech Holdings Bhd surging 34 sen to RM1.14, Sapura Energy Bhd flat at 4.5 sen and Ingenieur Gudang Bhd rising 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen.