Bursa Malaysia rebounded in early trade on Wednesday from yesterday's decline, driven by the buying of selected industrial products and services counters.
At 9.16am, the key benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index gained 1.65 points to 1,583.10 from 1,581.37 at the end of Tuesday's trading.
Bernama reported that the benchmark index rose 1.55 points to 1,582.92 when trading opened this morning.
Market sentiment was positive with gainers outpacing losers by 224 to 214 while 332 other counters were unchanged, 1,383 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 569.06 million units worth RM247.82 million.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors were likely to focus on packaging and plastic -related counters following the increase in Advanced Sterilized Products (ASP) in the sector following the increase in resin prices.
In its research note, the brokerage firm said the energy sector was also expected to receive a response following the sharp rise in oil prices while technology stocks were also projected to rebound in trading today.
“The FBM KLCI saw volatility and closed slightly lower yesterday after buying activity in lower priced stocks in the previous session as sentiment remained cautious ahead of the announcement of the National Recovery Plan.
"We expect factors such as Malaysia to reopen the economy in stages by September as announced as well as a significant increase in vaccination rates in the country will be able to boost market sentiment at the local level," he explained.
According to him, the commodity sector saw the price of crude palm oil (CPO) rise again after recording a decline while the price of Brent crude oil remained strong above US $ 73 per barrel.
Heavyweights saw Maybank and Public Bank rise 1.0 sen each to RM8.21 and RM4.22, TNB added 6.0 sen to RM10, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.10 while IHH Healthcare declined 1.0 sen to RM5.56.
For active stocks, KNM rose half-a-sen to 21 sen, DNex and Zelan rose 1.5 sen to 90.5 sen and 15 sen respectively while Berjaya Corp and Serba Dinamik declined half-a-sen to 33 sen and 67.5 sen.
On the index board saw the FBM Emas Index gain 6.73 points to 11,574.58, the FBMT 100 Index rose 8.04 points to 11,255.19 while the FBM ACE on the other hand declined 18.04 points to 7,686.88.
The FBM Emas Index added 10.03 points to 12,721.78 but the FBM 70 declined 3.43 points to 15,072.73.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 2.23 points to 15,314.46 while the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.33 points to 194.26 and the Plantation Index declined 18.75 points to 6,583.62.
