KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 ― Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open higher in the early trading session today, on renewed buying interest, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, an analyst said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 8.96 points to 1,539.05 from 1,530.09 at yesterday's close, after opening 1.10 points higher at 1,531.19.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 221 to 128, while 235 counters were unchanged, 1,629 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 211.81 million units worth RM147.71 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the recovery of the local bourse may resume in a tepid manner as gains will be capped by the lack of fresh local leads.

“On a brighter note, the unemployment rate continues to demonstrate improvement -- falling to 4.2 per cent in December 2021, highlighting that the economic recovery is largely on track,” it said.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) yesterday reported that the working population continued to increase in December last year, with a marginal increase of 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 15.65 million persons.

Meanwhile, the DoSM also reported that the Industrial Production Index (IPI) increased 5.8 per cent in December 2021 compared to the same month of the previous year.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB both gained eight sen to RM8.43 and RM5.32, respectively, Press Metal advanced nine sen to RM6.39, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM9.05, while IHH Healthcare slipped two sen to RM6.48.

As for the actives, AirAsia added two sen to 68 sen, DneX and SMTrack increased half-a-sen each to 98 sen and 19 sen, respectively, and YTL Power gained seven sen to 67 sen.

On the index board, FBM ACE rose 3.94 points to 6,251.55, FBM 70 strengthened 44.09 points to 13,656.89, FBM Emas Index firmed 53.69 points to 11,083.12, FBMT 100 Index climbed 55.14 points to 10,761.49, and FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 33.08 points to 11,779.61.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 121.56 points to 15,949.34, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.1 points better at 206.75, and the Plantation Index leaped 31.08 points to 6,649.66. ― Bernama