KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Friday (Jan 13) on positive sentiment, after the latest US consumer price index (CPI) figures showed that inflation continued to decline in the US, spurring hopes for softer interest rates going forward.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had improved by 2.54 points to 1,491.20, from Thursday's close at 1,488.66.

The market bellwether opened 0.61 point lower at 1,488.05.    

In the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 175 to 97, while 211 counters were unchanged, 1,719 untraded, and 20 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 200.73 million units worth RM85.27 million.

The US CPI fell 0.1% in December, meeting expectations, for the biggest drop since April 2020.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 217 points, while the Nasdaq jumped by almost 70 points, as the US 10-year yield eased further to around 3.44%.

Back home, he reckoned that buyers should return to the stock market on the back of cooling US inflation, which also saw the ringgit strengthening against the US dollar on Friday.

"As such, we expect consumer product and energy stocks to continue to trend higher, as Brent crude continued to rise. It closed at almost US$83.90 per barrel on the back of a weaker US dollar," he told Bernama. 

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd edged up three sen to RM5.78 a share, while Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) at RM9.45 and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) at RM5.18 had added five sen each. Sime Darby Bhd rose four sen to RM2.31, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained two sen to RM8.82. 

As for the actives, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd at 1.5 sen, Zen Tech International Bhd at three sen, and Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd at 15.5 sen had perked up half a sen each. NationGate Holdings Bhd increased seven sen to RM1.07, while Artroniq Bhd declined 2.5 sen to 84 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 21.42 points to 10,764.18, the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 20.25 points to 10,461.33, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 28.59 points to 10,973.44.

The FBM 70 Index grew 36.16 points to 13,377.63, and the FBM ACE Index pushed up 39.25 points to 5,467.88.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index earned 16.03 points to 16,553.72, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.14 of a point to 183.95. 

The Plantation index ticked up 21.08 points to 6,943.70, and the Energy Index garnered 4.62 points to 820.89.