KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia started the day on a positive note, following the optimistic performance of Wall Street last night.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.63 points to 1,601.59 from Tuesday's close of 1,597.96.
The benchmark index started 1.64 points higher at 1,599.60.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 297 to 119, with 334 counters unchanged.
Turnover was at 291.86 million units worth RM166.90 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI pared earlier gains to close marginally lower attributed to late selling activities.
Nonetheless, he recognised the presence of buyers coupled with improving trading volume which breached the 5 billion shares level.
"For today, we expect the index to possibly trend within the 1,600-1,610 range as bargain hunting activities is anticipated to persist.
"Meanwhile, crude palm oil (CPO) price improved to around the RM4,000/tonne may induce some interest on plantation stocks," he told Business Times.
Thong also noted that Wall Street closed higher as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched another record high despite the Federal Reserve reiterating that it is not ready to cut rates as yet until inflation sustains its slide towards two per cent.
As a result, he said the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 162 points while the Nasdaq jumped by 149 points with the US 10-year yield easing slightly to 4.436 per cent.
In Hong Kong, he said the Hang Seng Index (HSI) ended marginally higher as sentiment improved over the Chinese manufacturing data.