KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Monday (Jan 9), with the FBM KLCI rising 0.31% to 1,485.14 points on renewed buying interest, lifted mainly by gains in transportation and logistics stocks, said a dealer.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had gained 4.59 points, from last Friday's close at 1,480.55.

The market bellwether opened 4.01 points stronger at 1,484.56.    

On the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 229 to 97, while 220 counters were unchanged, 1,664 untraded, and 19 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 176.96 million units worth RM66.35 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street surged last Friday, as the latest economic data suggested that inflation in the US might be cooling off, leading to possibly less aggressive rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve going forward.

"The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 700 points, while the Nasdaq added 264 points, with the US 10-year yield easing to the 3.56% level," he told Bernama.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed 60 points lower, but still capped a brilliant performance for the week, on improving confidence buoyed by economic-friendly moves from the Chinese government.

On the home front, Thong reckoned that stock accumulation would continue, with the KLCI index expected to trend in the 1,480 and 1,495 range on Monday.

"Although we anticipate buying to be broad-based, we reckon that buying interest should remain on the construction and tourism-related sectors today (Monday)," he added. 

Among the heavyweights, MISC Bhd gained seven sen to RM7.28, while IOI Corp Bhd added five sen to RM3.96, and Genting Malaysia Bhd rose five sen to RM2.81. PPB Group Bhd added two sen to RM17.70, and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd improved three sen to RM4.40. 

As for the actives, CSH Alliance Bhd went up half a sen to five sen, Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd climbed 3.5 sen to 41 sen, and DS Sigma Holdings Bhd ticked up two sen to 64 sen. KNM Group Bhd was flat at 4.5 sen, and Cypark Resources Bhd eased 1.5 sen to 63.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 40.90 points to 10,673.23, the FBMT 100 Index strengthened by 39.06 points to 10,381.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index widened by 52.02 points to 10,887.89.  

The FBM 70 Index was higher by 79.55 points to 13,114.26, and the FBM ACE Index grew 31.19 points to 5,409.09.  

Sector-wise, transportation and logistics bagged 18.08 points to 940.25, the Financial Services Index went up 27.93 points to 16.443.41, and the Industrial Products and Services Index pushed up 0.64 of a point to 182.31. The Plantation index added 40.02 points to 6,930.19, and the Energy Index garnered 4.08 points to 781.67.