KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Bursa Malaysia posted modest gains in early trade today as a little profit-taking kicked in after two days of uptrend.

At 9.11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.76 of-a-point to 1,523.19 from Monday’s close of 1,522.43.

The market bellwether opened 1.78 points higher at 1,524.21.

Market breadth remained positive, with gainers surpassing decliners 265 to 172, while 284 counters were unchanged, 1,498 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover stood at 367.22 million shares worth RM174.50 million.

Malacca Securities said the declining trend in Covid-19 daily cases might trigger more focus in the recovery-themed sectors from market participants.

“We believe buying interest should continue in the recovery theme sectors, such as consumer, transportation and logistics, and aviation as well as tourism.

“Besides, technology stocks may garner traction with the strong overnight performance on Wall Street,” it said in a note today.

Commodities-wise, both crude palm oil and crude oil prices rebounded, with Brent crude closing above the US$68-per-barrel level.

The local sentiment is also supported by optimism amid the earnings season.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan jumped 38 sen to RM19.18 while Genting Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional, RHB Bank and Genting Bhd advanced three sen to RM2.90, RM9.90, RM5.37 and RM4.85, respectively.

CIMB, Sime Darby and Dialog gained one sen each to RM4.69, RM2.17 and RM2.61, respectively.

In contrast, Maybank dropped one sen to RM8.16, while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM3.94 and RM7.98, respectively.

Among the actives, D’nonce Technology added one sen to 61.5 sen, MMAG improved half-a-sen to 13 sen, and Avillion decreased 1.5 sen to 14.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 11.74 points to 11,168.36, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 9.82 points to 10,874.95, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 13.90 points to 12,258.27, the FBM 70 was 30.46 points higher at 14,740.40, and the FBM ACE went up 25.09 points to 7,204.21.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 11.24 points to 6,399.14, the Financial Services Index rose 5.47 points to 14,923.32, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.29 of-a-point to 189.66. — Bernama