KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened strong with almost all sectors, apart from real estate investment trust and consumer products, tracking US markets which continued its rally, analysts said.
At 9.05 am, the FBM KLCI rose 4.26 points to 1,611.58 compared with 1,607.32 at last Friday's close.
The FBM KLCI opened 2.07 points higher at 1,609.39.
Gainers led decliners 340 to 170, while 383 counters were unchanged, 1,507 untraded, and six others suspended.
Turnover totalled 275.18 million units worth RM132.59 million.
Tradeview Capital Sdn Bhd fund manager Neoh Jia Man said the performance on the local market was attributed to the sustained rally in the U.S. markets, which closed at record highs overnight, led by gains in tech stocks.
Wall Street closed higher mainly due to follow through buying last week with the S&P recorded a fresh new high.
"We believe local investors will likely shrug off the disappointing economic data from China yesterday and support further market gains today," he told Business Times.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said as for the FBM KLCI, after a couple of days consolidating, he expects the benchmark index to reverse its direction and expect it to hover between the 1,610-1,620 range today attributed to bargain hunting activities.
Again, the outlook for corporate Malaysia is improving based on the broad-based upward revision in earnings growth to 8.2 per cent for 2025 following a respectable 16.1 per cent growth for this year, he said.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices rebounded as the Brent crude price trends closer to US$85 per barrel underpinned by improving demand outlook.