KUALA LUMPUR: Ongoing window-dressing activities should continue to lift the FBM KLCI for the final trading day of the year, while another positive session on Wall Street should also support the rally.
At the opening bell, Malaysia's benchmark stock index was up 0.16 points to 1,457.57 as investors looked for a bullish close to 2023.
Overnight, the Dow Jones and S&P500 approached all-time highs while the Nasdaq was marginally lower on the back of profit-taking.
"The expectation of three interest rate cuts next year by the Fed will continue to support the overall market conditions in the US, eventually spilling over towards the stocks on the local front," said Malacca Securities Research in its review.
However, the research firm noted that the technical readings on the key index were mixed as the daily moving average convergence/divergence histogram extended another negative bar, while the relative strength index remained above the 50 level.
"The resistance is envisaged around 1,470-1,480 and the support is set at 1,440-1,450," it said.
Among blue chips, price movement was conservative with IHH rising two sen to RM6.05, YTL adding one sen to RM1.90 and Maxis gaining one sen to RM3.87.
Telekom was down four sen to RM5.52, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed two sen to RM21.84 and Hong Leong Bank slid two sen to RM18.80.
Top actives on the market were Pelikan down two sen to 31.5 sen, Hong Seng unchanged at 2.5 sen and Grand Ocean up five sen to 17.5 sen.
