KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened flat on Wednesday before trending higher after the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) statement that keeping rates high for too long would be bad for the US economy.
FBM KLCI opened at 1,613.70, down 0.09 point from Tuesday's close of 1,615.06.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 155 to 129, with 315 counters unchanged, 1,821 untraded and six suspended.
Turnover stood at 114.74 million units worth RM51.09 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng expects the index to hover within the 1,610 to 1,620 range today.
He said the FBM KLCI closed on a positive note yesterday amid a muted session with traces of bargain hunting activities.
"However, market volume has shrunk to below the 5 billion shares mark illustrating that market undertone is still rather cautious.," he said.
Meanwhile, Thong said Wall Street closed mixed but both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 inched slightly higher to end at record highs on the back of Fed chair Jerome Powell's statement that keeping rates high for too long will be bad for the US.
Nonetheless, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped 53 points as the US 10-year yield marginally higher at 4.297 per cent.
"Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the HSI ended flat but off the day's low as sentiment remains nervous of China's inflation data which may indicate sluggish domestic demand," he added.