KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia briefly turned positive after two days of losses following profit-taking activities.
At 9.10 am, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 0.49 of-a-point to 1,545.98 from Thursday's close of 1,545.49.
The benchmark index opened 0.86 of-a-point higher at 1,546.35.
The market sentiment was positive with gainers surpassing losers 227 to 204, while 296 counters were unchanged, 1,587 untraded and 36 others suspended.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local market also got a boost from higher Wall Street equities amid a strong buying in tech stocks after Nvidia reported much stronger-than-expected quarterly results, lifting both the broader market and the tech sector.
The Dow gained 1.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq jumped almost 3.0 per cent. In Asia, major indices closed higher due to late buying.
"We perceive the recent profit-taking on the local front as a healthy correction, allowing the market to digest the recent uptrend and offering the opportunity to accumulate stocks at lower levels.
"As such, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,540-1,550 range today," he noted.
On the local bourse, heavyweights YTL and YTL Power improved, gaining nine sen each to RM2.24 and RM3.87, respectively, after a jump in net profit as reported yesterday.
Petronas Gas bagged 20 sen to RM18.18 and CIMB gained one sen to RM6.40.
Axiata, however, lost five sen to RM2.71 and Petronas Chemicals was four sen lower at RM7.06.
As for the actives, Hong Seng and Minetech were half-a-sen better at 2.0 sen and 18 sen, respectively.
Powerwell and Notion increased four sen to 31 sen and 49.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 2.33 points to 11,509.65, the FBMT 100 Index shed 3.27 points to 11,158.95, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 16.23 points to 11,586.38, the FBM 70 Index reduced 17.93 points to 15,627.06 and the FBM ACE Index was 0.68 of-a-point lower at 4,905.88.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 15.28 points to 17,308.17 and the Energy Index was 2.34 of-a-point easier at 931.89, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.13 of-a-point to 178.40, while the Plantation Index increased by 0.16 of-a-point to 7,333.28.