KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia continued its uptrend in early trading today despite the mixed Wall Street performance, taking the cue from the positive economic growth in Malaysia, a dealer said. 

At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 5.69 points to 1,622.31 compared to Friday’s close of 1,616.62.

The barometer index opened 1.66 points better at 1,618.28.

Gainers outnumbered losers 411 to 129, with 349 counters unchanged, 1,490 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover was 451.18 million units worth RM179.29 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the United States (US) stock markets ended mixed but the Dow surpassed the 40,000 level. 

Nevertheless, it said investors await the US Federal Reserve officials' speeches and unemployment claims data this week to understand the overall interest rate direction going forward.

"Overall, the local market is still on a bullish tone as the economy continued to grow in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q 2024),” it said.

The Malaysian economy expanded at a higher rate of 4.2 per cent in 1Q 2024 from 2.9 per cent in 4Q 2023, driven by stronger private expenditure and the positive turnaround in exports.

"Also, we expect the US imposed higher tariff on China products will benefit Malaysia companies potentially due to higher trade diversions going forward,” it said.

The brokerage believed that the technology and metal-related sectors will gain momentum in the near to mid-term.

"Also, we think there could be further trading potential in the construction, building materials and property sectors with the potential revival of mega infrastructure projects like Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) as well as optimism over the execution of the National Energy Transition Roadmap and the New Industrial Master Plan 2030,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB added one sen to RM9.93, RM4.20 and RM6.82 respectively, Tenaga Nasional rose 10 sen to RM12.70 and  CelcomDigi gained five sen to RM4.11.

As for the actives, Ingenieur Gudang increased one sen to 10.5 sen, AHB Holdings recovered half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, while Malayan United, EA Holdings and Iconic Worldwide were unchanged at six sen, half-a-sen and 10.5 sen respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 52.77 points to 12,360.95, the FBMT 100 Index rose 49.45 points to 11,955.46 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 69.63 points to 12,591.84.

The FBM ACE Index gained 13.76 points to 5,364.98 and the FBM 70 Index jumped 103.78 points to 17,744.85.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 35.92 points to 17,681.53, the Industrial Products and Services Index firmed 1.26 points to 196.08, the Plantation Index expanded by 24.92 points to 7,411.70, but the Energy Index shed 0.87 of-a-point to 985.08.

-- BERNAMA