KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia resumed its trek higher in Monday morning trade after five straight sessions of gains in the previous week.
However, Asian markets are expected to remain cautious With Chinese gross domestic product data due to be released at 10am today, which investors are expecting to show signs of a slowdown.
Kenanga Research said that the technical outlook of the FBM KLCI has turned increasingly positive as it had overcome the previous resistance level of 1,720 while momentum indicators are currently trending upwards amid strong-than-average trading volume.
"We expect an eventual move towards 1,760 (R1), where a decisive break-through could see the index on higher note towards 1,790 (R2).
"Meanwhile, immediate support levels are identified at 1,720 (S1) and 1,615 (S2)," it said in its Monday pre-market open report.
As at 9.10am, the FBM KLCI was rising further afield, putting on 1.62 points to 1,723.55. Trading volume stood at 133.59 million shares with a value of RM62.15mil. There were 201 gainers versus 68 decliners and 177 counters unchanged.
Among the most actively traded counters, MRCB gained 1.5 sen to 70.5 sen, MyEG added 2.5 sen to 93 sen while Velesto
rose half a sen to 29 sen.
George Kent was also on the move, gaining three sen to RM1.43.
Other counters showing positive movement included Supermax, rising nine sen to RM4.45, AirAsia putting on eight sen to RM3.13 and Carlsberg gaining 36 sen to RM19.48.
Sliding back, KL Kepong lost 24 sen to RM20.04, IOI shed eight sen to RM4.46 and CIMB slipped three sen to RM5.69.
Oil prices fell on Monday as concerns about supply disruptions eased and Libyan ports resumed export activities, while traders eyed potential supply increases by Russia and other oil producers, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures were down 26 cents at US$75.07 a barrel and WTI crude was down 27 cents, or 0.4% at US$70.74 a barrel.
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