KUALA LUMPUR: The benchmark index, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), has breached the 1,800 level yesterday morning, a level that was last seen in 2015.
The key index hit 1,800.04 at 9.07 am, up 7.55 points from yesterday’s close of 1792.79.
At closing, it reached a high of 1,803.45 yesterday.
The FBM KLCI was traded at 1,809.72 in May 2015 before retreating to below 1,800 thereafter, dampened by the fall in global oil prices.
JF Apex Securities head of research, Lee Chung Cheng, said buying momentum in Bursa Malaysia was relatively strong, thanks to the sturdy foreign buying coupled with upbeat closing on the overnight Wall Street, which saw all the three main US indices notched all-time records.
“Based on last year’s performance, Bursa Malaysia was quite legging behind its peers in the region, including Thailand and the Philippines. So they have now returned for some follow-up buying in Malaysia’s market,” he told Bernama.
Lee said JF Apex has set a new resistance target of 1,830 for the FBM KLCI as it has successfully broke the research firm’s initial target of 1,800.
He said support level stood at 1,730.
Asked on which counters which would attract interests, Lee anticipated banking-related stocks on the back of prospect for higher overnight policy rate this year.
Among banks, Maybank rose three sen to RM9.81 as at 10.33 am, Public Bank gained four sen to RM20.80, AMMB Holdings added three sen to RM4.59, while both CIMB and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM6.53 and RM17.00 respectively.
He said government-linked counters would also be in the limelight ahead of the 14th General Election, which has saw several counters, including MyEG and Petronas stocks, posting gains recently.
Petronas Chemicals chalked up nine sen to RM8.04, Petronas Dagangan bagged 10 sen to RM24.60, and Petronas Gas perked four sen to RM17.98. — Bernama