KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Bursa Malaysia extended Thursday's gains to open higher taking the cue on positive sentiment on Wall Street as investors are optimistic of the upcoming US nonfarm payrolls data later on Friday.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 2.20 points to 1,538.03 from Thursday’s close of 1,535.83.

The benchmark index opened 0.69 of-a-point higher at 1,536.52.

On the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 190 to 121, while 281 counters were unchanged, 1,684 untraded and 29 suspended.

Malacca Securities said in a note that Wall Street ended higher with help from the semiconductor industry, and investors could be optimistic on the upcoming February jobs data.

“On the local front, it expects buying support to be seen within the commodities sectors like the oil and gas, gold and plantation sectors as the underlying commodities prices traded strongly, pricing in the potential interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve this year,” it said.

Besides, it believes the buying interest may spill over towards the technology sector on the local front, while it noticed some buying momentum picking up within the construction sector.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd inched up eight sen to RM6.60, Tenaga Nasional Bhd added four sen to RM11.20, Public Bank Bhd was unchanged at RM4.30 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was flat at RM6.94 while Malayan Banking Bhd slid one sen to RM9.69.

As for the actives, Velesto Energy Bhd rose half-a-sen to 28.5 sen. TWL Holdings Bhd stood at 3.5 sen, followed by Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd at 11.5 sen, and Joe Holding Bhd at 24.5 sen, as all three counters were flat. Sapura Energy Bhd, meanwhile, was down half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 21.83 points firmer at 11,414.82, the FBMT 100 Index added 21.40 points to 11,076.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 13.20 points to 11,414.84 and the FBM 70 Index bagged 52.77 points to 15,396.04, while the FBM ACE Index slipped 5.22 points to 4,700.06.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 43.82 points to 17,307.66, the Energy Index improved by 6.42 points to 903.63, while the Plantation Index shaved 2.72 points to 7,265.09, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.20 of-a-point to 174.85.