KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 ― Bursa Malaysia rebounded at the opening, tracking the overnight surge on Wall Street on hopes that the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing its peak in the United States.

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23,433, up by almost 780 points or 3.44 per cent.

At 9.02am, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 6.98 points, or 0.513 per cent to 1,368.37 from 1,368.89 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 7.5 points stronger at 1,368.89.

Advertisement

Market breadth turned positive with gainers leading losers 336 to 35, while 125 counters were unchanged, 1,423 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 219.04 million worth RM63.68 million.

Rakuten Trade reckoned that the US stock market's optimism may influence the Asian markets today albeit a short-lived one.

Advertisement

“Locally, we would expect the FBM KLCI which had been rather resilient to test the immediate resistance of 1,370 today,” it said in a note today.

On the flip side, it reiterates the immediate support for the benchmark index is at 1,350 and remained cautious amid the wild swings of the market of late.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said expectedly, Malaysian equities retraced on profit-taking activities amid the lack of leads that also saw market following dwindling.

“We, however, view the pullback as a positive move to prevent the market from overheating in order to establish more room for further gains to unfold. At the same time, the fresh buying on Wall Street and the rally in crude oil prices overnight may provide a sentiment boost on the local bourse,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM7.91, Tenaga jumped 12 sen to RM12.06, Public Bank added two sen to RM15.84 and IHH was six sen higher at RM5.20.

Oil and gas-related stocks emerged as the top three most actives today, riding on the higher crude oil price.

Sapura Energy and Bumi Armada gained one sen each to 11.5 sen and 1.5 sen, while Hibiscus Petroleum was three sen better at 53.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 73.19 points to 9,484.46, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 92.02 points to 10,414.47 while the FBMT 100 Index went up 63.75 points to 9,370.46.

The FBM 70 expanded 142.06 points to 11,142.55 and the FBM Ace surged 70.05 points to 4,155.72.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.50 of-a-point to 109.72, the Financial Services Index gained 58.16 points to 12,456.63 and the Plantation Index was 22.41 points higher at 6,198.17. ― Bernama