KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained nearly flat in the opening minutes of trade as investors awaited fresh direction following the recent rally.
At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 0.52 point to 1,492.75. The market breadth was positive with 169 gainers compared with 113 decliners.
There were 196.7 million shares traded for a sum of RM51.39mil.
Interest in global equities returned over the past week as investors bet the confirmed technical recession in the US will slow the Federal Reserve's rate of interest rate hikes.
However, inflation is expected to remai nhigh given the price of crude oil, which remains elevated above US$103 a barrel owing to the tight supply situation.
"We remain positive on the technology sector amid the extended uptrend movement in Nasdaq as well as the anticipation of better earnings result for our local tech stocks into the reporting month.
"The plantation sector may gain traction amid a jump in CPO prices, but the O&G stocks may take a mild breather as crude oil price is on a mild retracement," said Malacca Securites Research in a note.
It added that technical indicators remain positive while the key index may look forward to resistance at 1,500-15,30 and support at 1,460, followed by 1,410.
There were gains seen in plantation counters in early trade while technology stocks were mixed.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 12 sen to RM22.04 and United Plantation rose six sen to RM14.36.
Unisem climbed six sen to RM3.06 while Unisem gained four sen to RM3.04.
Top actives were CSH unchanged at seven sen, Metronic up 1.5 sne to 15.5 sen and Serba Dinamik
flat at 10.5 sen.
