KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia continued its recovery on Monday past the 1,600 psychological level as sentiment over the global outlook steadied following the release of recent US economic data.
At the opening bell, the FBM KLCI was up 2.48 points to 1,598.53 as investors' nerves calmed following the previous week's heavy selldown. By 9.15am, the index had gained eight points to 1,604.05.
Apex Securities Research said in a note the mood will be boosted by the calmer market conditions on Wall Street alongside the better-than-expected industrial production data back home which rose 5% y-o-y in June.
Looking ahead, investors will be watching the US consumer inflation data to be released tonight.
"We continue to favour the technology sector, riding onto the recovery on Nasdaq last Friday. Also, the energy sector may take cue from the rebound in crude oil prices for the past three straight sessions," said Apex.
Meanwhile, bank shares rose with CIMB rising six sen to RM7.36, Maybank gaining two sen to RM10.18, RHB adding two sen to RM5.67 and Hong Leong Bank climbing 12 sen to MR19.26.
Among the early gainers, Notion VTech jumped 12 sen to RM1.82, MSM rose 15 sen to RM1.81 and PIE Industrial gained 15 sen to RM5.67.
Of actives, Cape EMS dropped 0.5 sen to 51.5 sen, Technax added 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen and OCR gained 0.5 sen to seven sen.
