KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): Bursa Malaysia rebounded today, mirroring the recovery in overnight US markets.
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All indices and sectoral indices were in green territory, with the FBM KLCI gaining 3.8 points to 1,600.38 as at 9.05am.
The market bellwether opened 3.31 points higher at 1,599.89.
Overall market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 266 to 156, while 329 counters were unchanged, 1,435 untraded and six others suspended.
Total volume stood at 386.22 million shares worth RM156.58 million.
Malacca Securities expects the local bourse to see some mild rebound, tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street.
The local bourse may take its cue from the rise in Nasdaq overnight and put the technology sector on its radar, it said in a note.
Yesterday, US stocks recovered all their previous session losses as the Dow climbed with investors’ attention shifted to economic recovery progress amid a flurry of corporate earnings releases.
The Dow rose 0.93% to 34,137.31, Nasdaq improved 1.19% to end at 13,950.22 and the S&P 500 increased 0.93% to close at 4,173.42. On the other hand, Asian bourses ended in the red yesterday.
At home, Malacca Securities believes plantation counters may see some improvement following firmer crude palm oil (CPO) prices.
CPO prices continued to hover near the RM4,000 level, but the positive impact was not yet reflected on the plantation counters.
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However, a possible pullback in glove counters due to concerns over the glove average selling price (ASP) on the back of the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination programme and weaker oil prices may cap the upside.
The oil market declined sharply yesterday following concerns over the outlook for energy demand after an unexpected uptick in US crude inventories and surging Covid-19 infections in India.
Domestically, most heavyweights were in the red with only four counters, mainly glove shares, in negative territory.
Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) had gained six sen to RM7.85 so far today, while Axiata Group Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd rose three sen to RM3.84 and RM4.46 respectively.
PPB Group Bhd improved 18 sen to RM18.68 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added two sen to RM4.24.
Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd lost one sen to RM5.24 and RM4.19 respectively, while Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd reduced two sen to RM10.10 and RM5.52 respectively.
Among the active counters, Techhna-X Bhd and Key Asic Bhd edged up two sen to 15 sen and 23 sen respectively.
UCrest Bhd expanded 1.5 sen to 50 sen and Dynaciate Group Bhd was down half a sen at 11 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index recovered 34.91 points to 11,790.03, the FBMT 100 climbed increased 32.23 points to 11,443.00, and the FBM 70 inched up 63.42 points to 15,573.87.
The FBM Emas Shariah went up 45.08 points to 13,197.67, and the FBM ACE was 59.18 points better at 8,585.26.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 24.11 points higher at 6,84214, the Financial Services Index up 17.79 points to 15,029.21, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.61 of a point to 195.37.-BERNAMA