KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Bursa Malaysia’s key index rebounded to open higher on Wednesday as bargain hunting emerged after recent losses, despite negative cues from Wall Street.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recovered 4.34 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 1,648.30 from Tuesday’s close of 1,643.96.

The index opened 2.53 points higher at 1,646.49.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 214 to 174. A total of 293 counters were unchanged, 2,174 untraded and 95 suspended.

Turnover stood at 265.65 million shares worth RM151.82 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the market is increasingly oversold, creating opportunities for selective accumulation in fundamentally sound blue-chip stocks.

Any recovery, however, will likely remain narrow unless foreign selling moderates and banking heavyweights regain support, he said.

“Energy, renewable infrastructure and selected defensive counters may outperform, while technology stocks remain vulnerable to high global yields.

“Thus, we expect a cautious session, with bargain hunting around 1,640, placing the index within the 1,635-1,655 range,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM10.02, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.74, while CIMB fell two sen to RM7.76. Tenaga Nasional added 10 sen to RM12.82, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.87.

In active trade, Zetrix AI added half a sen to 17 sen, V.S Industry recouped 1.5 sen to 25 sen, Visdynamics expanded 10 sen to 52 sen, while Cuscapi remained unchanged at five sen and Gamuda earned 13 sen to RM5.11.

Among the top gainers, Allianz Malaysia and MISC both advanced 14 sen to RM21 and RM7.74, respectively. Hong Leong Industries inched up 10 sen to RM16.60, MI Technovation and UMS Integration both firmed nine sen to RM5.48 and RM8.70, respectively.

Eurospan led the top losers, falling 29 sen to RM2.95, Petronas Dagangan shed 28 sen to RM19.04, Aeon Credit edged down 14 sen to RM5.05, while Dutch Lady and Hong Leong Bank erased 12 sen each to RM29.88 and RM23.16, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index fell 21.36 points to 17,588.72, the FBM Emas Index climbed 19.22 points to 12,284.69, and the FBM Top 100 Index improved 19.81 points to 12,071.35.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 25.02 points to 12,152.63, and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 4.12 points to 5,524.46.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.36 of-a-point to 180.50, while the Energy Index gave up 4.42 points to 864.28. The Financial Services Index perked up 10.43 points to 19,271.29, while the Plantation Index added 1.86 points to 9,218.20. — Bernama