KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI continued its rally at the start of Wednesday trading, building on the momentum picked up after three straight days of gains.
At 9.05am, the country's benchmark index was up 12.32 points to 1,565.69, rising above the 100-day simple moving average on surging bullish sentiment.
The domestic market was broadly positive with 271 gainers versus 122 decliners while 321 counters remained unchanged.
Local equities have been on a tear in recent days following the prompt appointment of a new Prime Minister and the government's move to ease restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated in the ongoing lockdown.
Foreign funds were seen returning to the market with RM153.6mil worth of offshore net buying recorded yesterday. Local institutions were net sellers of RM105.2mil in equities while retail investors net sold RM48.4mil.
Meanwhile, easing anxieties over whether the US Federal Reserve will pull the brakes on monetary stimulus also helped to shore up sentiment in the Asian region, dampened recently by the spread of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus and increasing regulatory scrutiny in several of China's economic sectors.
Investors however are looking forward to the US central bank's Jackson Hole symposium later this week, which would shed further light on any potential policy shifts.
On Bursa Malaysia, the early morning rally was led by bank stocks, which continued their advance from previous sessions.
Maybank was up five sen to RM8.37, Public Bank grew two sen to RM4.13, CIMB was up one sen to RM4.84 and Hong Leong Bank bucked the trend, descending four sen to RM18.96.
Plantation counters also continued to gain weight with Sime Darby Plantation adding two sen to RM4.18 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbing 28 sen to RM20.78.
Buoyed by recent earnings results, Press Metal rose 14 sen to RM5.14.
Nestle, which also recently announced its earnings, jumped RM1.30 to RM135.20. Other consumer counters followed suit including F&N up 32 sen to RM27.82 and Dutch Lady adding 30 sen to RM32.40.
Top actives were MMAG unchanged at 11.5 sen, Kanger flat at six sen and Sapura Energy also unchanged at 12 sen.