KUALA LUMPUR: The rally in Malaysian blue chips is expected to continue following a successful breach of the 1,600 psychological level yesterday, which signalled a return of foreign funds to the local market.
At the opening bell, the FBM KLCI was down 1.07 points on mild profit-taking following the previous day's rally.
However, the index remains comfortably above the 50-day simple moving average, which offers technical support to the benchmark.
The positive turn on Bursa Malaysia comes amid a hotter-than-expected inflation report in the US, which saw investors pull out of Wall Street equities.
With the January US consumer price index pointing to higher-than-expected price increases, the Federal Reserve is all but certain to delay any further reduction in the interest rate, sending the US 10-year yield spiking to 4.627%.
"We believe the uncertainty and high valuations on Wall Street may turn some funds Asian-bound," said Rakuten Trade in its market outlook.
The research firm expects the index to trend within the 1,600-1,610 range today.
In early trade, there was profit-taking in PETRONAS Gas down 20 sen to RM17.56, Carlsberg falling 10 sen to RM20.16 and Pentamaster shaving seven sen to RM3.55.
Genting, meanwhile, jumped eight sne to RM3.69, Heineken surged 90 sen to RM25.70 and Itmax climbed 11 sen to RM3.88.
Of actives, Ingenieur was flat at 5.5 sen, Harvest Miracle lost 0.5 sen to 15.5 sen and Aizo was unchanged at 12 sen.
