KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, as traders believe that the recent softer US economic data might prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as soon as March.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.35 points to 1,460.27 from yesterday's closing of 1,456.92.
The barometer index opened 1.21 points higher at 1,458.13 and thereafter moved between 1,456.16 and 1,461.24 throughout the session.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading decliners 413 to 361, while 431 counters were unchanged, 1,169 untraded and nine others suspended.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the weaker US dollar is a positive development for local central banks.
"It helps improve global financial conditions and provides support to domestic markets," he told Business Times.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd in a note today said Wall Street surged higher, supported by the buying interest within Nvidia and Microsoft and both were pushed towards new highs.
"We believe these positive catalysts may provide trading opportunities towards crafting new highs in the stock markets at least for the near term, offsetting the FOMC meeting minutes that will be released tomorrow.
Closer to home, the focus will be on the ongoing reporting season, said Malacca Securities.
The research firm said given the bullish tone on Wall Street with the help of the tech giants, it expects buying support to be seen within the technology sector.
"We are anticipating stronger results from sectors such as the utilities, property, building material, construction, consumer and transportation and logistics sectors and buying support should be seen. "Meanwhile, traders could perform short term trades in the oil and gas stocks amid the rebound in Brent oil prices," said Malacca Securities.