KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 ― Bursa Malaysia swung between gains and losses in early trade today with the index seen attempting to stay at 1,600 level after hitting its highest level since early this year yesterday.

At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.33 of-a-point to 1,599.65 after opening higher at 1,601.52 compared to yesterday's close of 1,598.75.

Market breadth was positive as gainers trounced losers 317 to 150, while 270 counters were unchanged, 1,220 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 635.31 million units worth RM447.18 million.

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Rakuten Trade said it expects regional markets to see a rebound today after yesterday’s decline.

In addition, news of potential vaccine for Covid-19 helped push the overnight Wall Street to higher levels with the Dow Jones gaining 556 points to close at almost the 26,650 level.           

“Locally, we envisage the FBM KLCI to break the 1,600 marks today following yesterday’s blip. As such, we expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,610- 1,615 range.

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“Meanwhile, we continue to advocate investors to exercise caution as the US-China trade tension escalates,” it said in a note today.

Malacca Securities said despite the healthcare sector took a fall alongside with weakness across the board, the current weakness is an opportunity for nibbling on beaten-down healthcare-related stocks.

At the same, it believes the higher crude palm oil (CPO) price is a boon for plantation stocks.

Investors also looking forward to Opec meeting today for further clues.

Healthcare heavyweights Top Glove and Hartalega’s shares continued to slide, losing 32 sen each to RM22.84 and RM16.80 respectively, while Public Bank dropped 20 sen to RM18.50, limiting the uptrend in the FBM KLCI.

Digi and Genting declined one sen each to RM4.32 and RM2.54 respectively.

In contrast, Sime Darby Plantation rose seven sen to RM5.10, riding on the uptrend in the CPO market.

Of the most active, PDZ dipped 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen, Reservoir was 26 sen higher at 67 sen and Eduspec was flat at two sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 7.13 points up at 11,259.97, the FBMT 100 Index rose 0.92 of-a-point to 11,115.84 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 2.29 points to 12,926.23.

The FBM 70 lost 4.19 points to 13,901.59 and the FBM ACE increased 59.18 points to 7,218.97.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 24.24 points to 13,517.70, the Plantation Index appreciated 41.21 points to 6,887.86 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.84 of-a-point higher at 138.99. ― Bernama