Bursa Malaysia edges higher in cautious trade mode ahead of US inflation print

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished marginally higher today, in line with the positive performance across the region, but investors maintained a risk-off mode ahead of the release of the US inflation print tonight, said an analyst.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 0.17 per cent or 2.83 points compared with Tuesday's close of 1,609.52.

The index, which opened 2.27 points higher at 1,611.79, fluctuated between 1,606.49 and 1,613.63 throughout the session.

Market breadth saw gainers leading losers 553 to 442, with 474 counters unchanged, 1,019 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover rose slightly to 3.46 billion units valued at RM2.497 billion from Tuesday's 3.41 billion units worth RM2.499 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said most key regional indices ended higher following overnight gains on Wall Street, as a soft producer inflation report fuelled expectations that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) might begin cutting rates in September.

This week, investors are also focused on China's industrial production and retail sales data, as well as key earnings reports from major Chinese firms like Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, and CK Hutchinson.

On the domestic front, meanwhile, investors are cautiously optimistic and are closely monitoring the US inflation print and China's economic data to gauge the local market's direction, which is greatly influenced by global economic powerhouses.

"At this time, we expect the benchmark to remain in consolidation mode, pending a breakout above the 1,620 level, given the decline in daily volume to below five billion.

"As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to fluctuate within the 1,600-1,620 range throughout the week," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan increased RM1.14 to RM19.48, Press Metal rose 11.0 sen to RM5.03, YTL Corporation climbed 6.0 sen to RM3.41, while YTL Power International and Sime Darby gained 7.0 sen each to RM4.43 and RM2.62 respectively.

As for the most active counters, TWL and MYEG were both flat at 3.0 sen and 90.5 sen respectively, Cape EMS rose half-a-sen to 46 sen, and Hiap Teck Venture dipped 1.5 sen to 35.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 44.77 points firmer to 12,289.52, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 45.14 points to 11,929.24, and the FBM ACE Index increased by 2.56 points to 5,391.29, the FBM 70 Index soared 156.98 points to 17,915.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index surged 56.46 points to 12,429.52.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index gained 9.76 points to 933.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.51 points to 183.03, and the Technology Index edged up 0.14 of-a-point to 71.33.

The Financial Services Index ticked up 10.61 points to 18,223.25 and the Plantation Index rose 32.00 points to 7,157.88.

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