KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded from last week’s downtrend to open higher this morning thanks to the better crude oil price coupled with fresh hopes for a trade deal between the United States and China.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.02 points to 1,565.61 from Friday’s close of 1,564.59.

The key index opened 2.65 points weaker at 1,561.94.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 288 to 162, while 271 counters were unchanged, 1,283 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 437.64 million shares worth RM196.18 million.  

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang reportedly said that China-US relations are at a crucial juncture and efforts must be made to maintain and stabilise bilateral ties between the two nations.

A dealer said this sparked positive hopes for a trade agreement, with the review of the Phase 1 trade deal put on hold, to resume.

Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude rose 0.42 per cent to US$44.99 per barrel at press time.

Moving forward into the final two weeks of the month, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believed investors would be focusing on a barrage of corporate earnings data that is expected to be as dour on the whole, in tandem with the recent release of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) data.

“While the volatility will remain a feature, we think that the pullback in the healthcare and technology sectors may warrant another look.

“The resilient demand and upcoming batch of corporate earnings from the aforementioned two sectors may also outperform their peers,” the research firm said in a note today.

Malaysia’s economy contracted 17.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, the worst double-digit quarterly decline since 1998 due to the unprecedented lockdown that was imposed to stem the spread of Covid-19 that brought the economy to almost a complete standstill.

In the fourth quarter of 1998, Malaysia posted a double-digit decline of 11.2 per cent. In the second quarter of last year the country recorded a GDP growth of 4.9 per cent.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM7.81, Top Glove bagged 24 sen to RM24.06, Tenaga gained two sen to RM11.14, Hartalega rose six sen to RM16.08, but Public Bank eased 14 sen to RM17.66.

Among actives, Sapura Energy perked one sen to 12.5 sen, DGB inched up half-a-sen to six sen, Iris increased four sen to 37 sen, while Pegasus was flat at 3.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 14.06 points to 11,158.59, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 32.1 points higher at 12,947.28 and the FBMT 100 Index improved 11.69 points to 10,987.95.

The FBM 70 firmed 32.85 points to 14,158.7 and the FBM ACE chalked up 112.33 points to 9,721.92.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 9.39 points to 13,295.11, the Plantation Index trimmed 1.16 points to 6,999.62 but the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.09 point to 139.23. — Bernama