Bursa rebounds to opens higher despite weaker Wall St performance

KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, rebounded from the previous two days of losses, despite a weaker overnight performance on Wall Street.

The US equities pulled back from the prior session’s record closing highs as investors were cautious over upcoming quarterly earnings reports, while awaiting the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) economic outlook.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had gained 6.47 points to 1,585.38 from yesterday’s close at 1,578.91.

The index opened 5.47 points higher at 1,584.38.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 207 to 185, while 311 counters were unchanged, 1,429 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 265.88 million shares worth RM124.1 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the KLCI may continue to trend sideways without any significant market leads, taking its cues from the overnight Wall Street.

“The KLCI extended its losses for the second straight session after Sri Lanka banned imports of palm oil. However, we expect bargain hunting to emerge in the near term amid higher crude palm oil (CPO) prices.

“The local bourse’s barometer index was trending lower in line with most regional peers. With technical indicators turning negative, we envisage resistance around 1,600 to 1,625, while support is set along 1,550 to 1,560,” it noted.

For sectors in focus, the research house said given the weaker sentiment, traders are expected to focus on recent trading momentum within the property and construction sectors.

“The digital payment industry should also gain some interest with the ongoing implementation of the Retail Digitalisation Initiative (ReDI) framework. Besides, traders may put recovery-themed stocks, such as aviation and REITs (real estate investment trusts), on their radar following more positive news flows of an economic recovery,” it added.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) gained two sen each to RM4.24 and RM10.20 respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) added two sen to RM7.97, IHH Healthcare Bhd improved one sen to RM5.31 and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was flat at RM8.31.

Among the active counters, ConnectCounty Holdings Bhd and Matang Bhd eased one sen each to 22.5 sen and 11.5 sen respectively, whereas Zelan Bhd added 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, while mTouche Technology Bhd and Focus Dynamics Group Bhd’s warrant were flat at 3.5 sen and one sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up 37,30 points at 11,755.92, the FBM 70 rose 13.20 points to 15,810.76, the FBMT 100 increased 36.73 points to 11,409.15, the FBM Emas Shariah advanced 35.81 points to 13,011.12 and the FBM ACE expanded 43.28 points to 9,674.43.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 20.03 points to 6,959.66, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.12 of a point to 193.26, while the Financial Services Index gained 67.06 points to 15,307.42.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets