KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open higher today on the back of brisk buying momentum on the broader market and stronger Wall Street performance overnight.

At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 6.19 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 1,573.33 from 1,567.14 at yesterday's close.

The key index opened 4.89 points higher at 1,572.03.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 374 to 178, while 319 counters were unchanged, 1,282 untraded and 14 others suspended.

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Total volume stood at 713.80 million units worth RM304.19 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI would likely succumb again to the drastic selling on glove stocks.

“Though we expect a broader based buying today, the FBM KLCI performance may be negated by the continuous sell-down on glove companies. Therefore, we foresee the benchmark index to trend within the 1,575-80 range today as bargain-hunting activities should emerge after yesterday’s dismal showing,” it said in a research note.

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Regionally, Rakuten Trade believes regional markets to improve further today after yesterday’s rather solid performance, as Wall Street rebounded sharply overnight following days of decline amid the uncertainty on rates.

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM8.12, Public Bank added three sen to RM4.23, TNB advanced eight sen to RM10.40, IHH Healthcare increased five sen to RM5.34, CIMB rose nine sen to RM4.31, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.51, and Petronas Gas declined two sen to RM16.26.

Glove stocks, Top Glove trimmed 10 sen to RM4.80, Hartalega eased two sen to RM9.36 and Supermax lost 17 sen to RM4.19.

Of the actives, GFM improved 6.5 points to 47 sen, Straits Interlogistics was 3.5 sen higher at 23.5 sen, MSM Malaysia appreciated four sen to RM1.32, while Pegasus Heights was flat at two sen, EA Holdings and Jadi Imaging inched down half-a-sen each to four sen and 13 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 51.02 points to 11,613.23, the FBMT 100 Index improved 48.74 points to 11,297.03, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 35.04 points higher at 12,923.84.

The FBM 70 widened 83.52 points to 15,556.85 and the FBM ACE expanded 98.54 points to 10,803.91.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.29 of-a-point to 184.41 and the Plantation Index decreased 15.23 points to 7,136.96.

The Financial Services Index surged 118.66 points to 15,078.31. — Bernama