Bursa Malaysia rebounds in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 ― Bursa Malaysia rebounded from yesterday’s heavy selling to open higher today, as bargain-hunting, especially in heavyweights, emerged, dealers said.

At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.66 points to 1,536.02 compared with 1,533.36 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 1.46 points better at 1,534.81.

On the broader market, there were 161 gainers and 141 losers, while 222 counters were unchanged, 1,749 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 162.51 million units valued at RM71.65 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note, expects the local bourse to stay volatile with a downward bias at least for the near-term, given Wall Street is still on the pullback phase.

However, investors might look for laggard counters with high earning visibility ahead of the February reporting season, it said.

“While the local bourse may take the cue from the overnight losses on Wall Street, investors may look out for bargain-hunting activities, especially in the consumer-related sector amid economic recovery, as well as the technology sector, given its positive prospects over the longer run,” it said.

The research firm also said the plantation sector might gain traction ahead of the earning season.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the regional markets performances are expected to be mixed today.

For the FBM KLCI, he said as market undertone continues to be weak, the key index would likely face continuing road bumps ahead.

“We expect it to hover within the 1,525 and 1,540 range today on heightened market volatility,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB bagged two sen each to RM8.32 and RM5.45, respectively, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.13, Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM8.77, and IHH Healthcare perked three sen to RM6.79.

Of the actives, BCM slipped half-a-sen to three sen, both Dagang Nexchange and Cuscapi were flat at 84.5 sen and 36.5 sen, respectively, while SMTrack inched up half-a-sen to 28.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 17.22 points higher at 11,176.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 17.22 points to 12,013.12, the FBM 70 improved 18.47 points to 14,321.16, and the FBMT 100 Index picked up 17.67 points to 10,864.1.

However, the FBM ACE contracted 8.95 points to 6,573.03.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.45 of-a-point to 201.58, the Financial Services Index advanced 27.72 points to 15,648.93, and the Plantation Index garnered 5.22 points to 6,608.19. ― Bernama