KUALA LUMPUR: The local stock market climbed in early Friday trade as investors’ risk appetite improved following the record closing on Wall Street and the rally in key Asian markets.
At 9.30am, the FBM KLCI was up 5.35 points or 0.34% to 1, 561.06. Turnover was 840.21 million shares valued at RM311.25mil. There were 300 gainers, 232 losers and 329 counters unchanged.
Bloomberg reported Asian stocks rose after US shares hit a record on a bipartisan US$579bil US infrastructure deal that stoked economic optimism. The dollar held a retreat.
Shares climbed in Japan, South Korea and Australia, and Hong Kong futures pointed higher. U.S. contracts were little changed after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reached new peaks.
Sectors seen as beneficiaries of the recovery from the pandemic, such as energy, led gains. US banks rose in post-market trading after clearing stress tests.
At Bursa on Thursday, foreign funds were net sellers at RM79.8mil and local funds RM28.3mil but local retailers remained net buyers at RM108mil.
In early trade on Friday, Annum was the top gainer, up 12 sen to RM1.37, OMH added 11 sen to RM4.14, Widetec nine sen to RM3.06 and MPI eight sen to RM39.
Tenaga Nasional gained seven sen to RM9.94, KSSC seven sen to RM1.41 and CI Holdings
six sen to RM3.55.
However, Serba Dinamik extended its decline, falling three sen to 50.5 sen in active trade.
Among the decliners were Genetec, down 15 sen to RM6.54, CGB 15 sen also to RM1.87, VIS 10 sen to RM.17, KESM 10c sen to RM10.60 and CCB nine sen to RM2.93.
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