Bursa Malaysia reopened higher today, reflecting the overnight recovery in the United States (US) market.
All indices and sectoral indices were in positive territory, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysa KLCI (FBM KCLI) jumping 3.8 points to 1,600.38 as of 9.05am.
According to Bernama, the market barometer index opened 3.31 points higher at 1,599.89.
The overall market was positive with gainers outpacing losers by 266 to 156, while 329 counters were unchanged, 1,435 untraded and six others suspended.
Turnover stood at 386.22 million shares worth RM156.58 million.
Malacca Securities expects the local bourse to post a slight rebound, tracking the overnight rise on Wall Street.
Adding the firm, the local bourse may take cues from the Nasdaq’s overnight gains and put the technology sector on its radar.
Yesterday, US stocks recovered from a decline in the previous session as the Dow rose with investors ’focus shifting to the progress of the economic recovery amid significant corporate earnings output.
The Dow rose 0.93 points to 34,137.31; The Nasdaq rose 1.19% to close at 13,950.22 and the S&P 500 rose 0.93% to close at 4,173.42. Moreover, Asian bourses closed lower yesterday.
Locally, Malacca Securities is confident that plantation counters may see a slight increase following stronger crude palm oil (CPO) prices.
The price of CPO continues to hover near the RM4,000 level, but the positive impact has yet to be reflected in the plantation counters.
However, glove counters are likely to decline due to concerns over the average selling price of gloves following the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination program and the weakness in oil prices that is expected to limit the rise.
Oil prices declined sharply yesterday following concerns about energy demand projections after an unexpected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories and a surge in the spread of Covid-19 in India.
Locally, most heavyweights were low with only four counters mainly glove stocks being in negative territory.
Petronas Chemicals rose six sen to RM7.85, while Axiata and Sime Darby Plantation gained three sen each to RM3.84 and RM4.46.
PPB Group increased 18 sen to RM18.68 and CIMB added two sen to RM4.24.
Press Metal and Digi declined one sen to RM5.24 and RM4.19, while Hartalega and Supermax declined two sen to RM10.10 and RM5.52.
Among active stocks, Techhna-X and Key Asic rose two cents to 15 cents and 23 cents, respectively.
Ucrest rose 1.5 cents to 50 cents and Dynaciate was half a cent lower at 11 cents.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index rose 34.91 points to 11,790.03, the FBMT 100 rose 32.23 points to 11,443.00, while the FBM 70 rose 63.42 points to 15,573.87.
FBM Emas Shariah rose 45.08 points to 13,197.67 and FBM ACE was 59.18 points high at 8,585.26.
By sector, the Plantation Index was 24.11 points higher at 6,84214, the Financial Services Index rose 17.79 points to 15,029.21, and the Products and Industries Index rose 0.61 points to 195.37.
