KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded today on investors’ bargain-hunting activities after the key index succumbed to a four-year low last week, dealers said. 

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 1.33 points at 1,559.00 compared to last Friday’s close of 1,557.67.

The index, which opened 0.12 point higher at 1,557.79, moved between 1,555.55 and 1,560.37 throughout the day.

Market breadth was, however, negative with losers trumping gainers 416 to 355, with 396 counters unchanged, 827 untraded and 29 others suspended.

Turnover widened to 2.16 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion from 2.04 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion last Friday. 

Kenanga Research said investors were, however, worried about a potential economic recession triggered by weakening economic growth and escalating trade tension.

“We opine that bearish sentiment remains intact until further signal warrants a trend reversal,” it said in a note.

The research firm said key support levels to watch out for were 1,550 (support level-1) and 1,510 (support level-2); meanwhile, overhead resistance levels could be found at 1,630 (resistance level-1) and 1,650 (resistance level-2).

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.47, Tenaga improved 12 sen to RM13.64, Public Bank was six sen higher at RM19.34 and IHH added one sen to RM5.66 while PChem shed 11 sen to RM7.20.

As for the actives, SDS Group—the latest ACE Market debutant—emerged as the most active stock today, by advancing 2.5 sen to 25.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and Hubline were flat at 26 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index rose 10.03 points to 11,058.55, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 10.03 points to 10,884.36 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 5.32 points stronger at 11,651.94.

The FBM 70 climbed 15.94 points to 13,822.43 and the FBM ACE added 52.51 points to 4,561.8.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 33.42 points to 15,030.81, but the Plantation Index lost 19.42 points to 6,548.56 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 1.11 points easier at 150.15.

Meanwhile, Southern Steel Bhd (SSB) and Ann Joo Resources Bhd, which requested for suspension of share trading in the morning session, announced that they had entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic alliance through a joint-venture company.

At the close, SSB was four sen higher to RM1.02, with 1.028 million shares traded while Ann Joo fell six sen to RM1.17 with 2.79 million shares changing hands.

Main Market volume increased to 1.21 billion units worth RM1.14 billion from last Friday’s 1.20 billion units worth RM1.42 billion.

Warrants turnover tumbled to 126.8 million worth RM12.13 million from 397.17 million worth RM84.79 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 831.42 million shares worth RM167.39 million from 445.78 million shares worth RM91.45 million on Friday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 158.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (158.23 million), construction (69.4 million), technology (161.46 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (23.68 million), property (101.66 million), plantations (8.46 million), REITs (7.05 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (375.39 million), healthcare (13.28 million), telecommunications and media (73.43 million), transportation and logistics (44.18 million), and utilities (14.35 million). — Bernama