KUALA LUMPUR: The uptick in positive sentiment on Wall Street last Friday has helped to shore up sentiment on Bursa Malaysia following a volatile week that saw the market return to a two-week low.
Starting the week on a positive note, the FBM KLCI rose 4.28 points to 1,617.16
Last Friday, the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, rose 0.1% in June, which pointed to easing inflation and the greater likelihood of interest rate cuts in September.
Back home, Apex Securities Research said investors will be keeping an eye on Malaysia's producer price index to be released today.
"Moving forward, we advocate directing attention towards gold-related stocks, following the strength in rising gold prices which hovered above US$2,300/oz.
"On the other hand, oil and gas stocks might come under pressure with weakness in Brent oil prices as China oil import in June took a dive," said the research firm in a note.
On the FBM KLCI, Tenaga Nasional jumped 12 sen to RM14.14, Telekon gained six sne to RM6.96 and YTL Power added six sen to RM4.78.
Maybank rose four sen to RM10.18, PETRONAS Gas climbed 28 sen to RM18.26 and Prtess Metal added five sen to RM5.29.
Meanwhile, Nestle dropped RM1.60 to RM114.30 on continued weakness following the previous week's negative earnings announcement.
In actives, Velocity rose one sen to seven sen, Ekovest dipped 1.5 sen to 45 sen and Focus shed 0.5 sen to 1.5 sen.
