KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia rebounded today, mirroring the recovery in overnight US markets.
All indexes and sectoral indices were in green territory, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (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 may see some mild rebound tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street.
The local bourse may take a cue from the rise in Nasdaq overnight and put the technology sector on radar, it said in a note.
Yesterday, the US stocks recovered all their previous session losses as the Dow climbed with investors’ attention shifted to the 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 the plantation counters may see some improvement following the firmer crude palm oil (CPO) prices.
The CPO prices continue to hover near the RM4,000 level, but positive impact was not reflected on the plantation counters yet.
However, a possible pullback in glove counters due to concerns over glove’s average selling price 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 the 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 were in negative territory.
Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM7.85, while Axiata and Sime Darby Plantation rose three sen to RM3.84 and RM4.46, respectively.
PPB Group improved 18 sen to RM18.68 and CIMB added two sen to RM4.24.
Press Metal and Digi lost one sen to RM5.24 and RM4.19, respectively, while Hartalega and Supermax reduced two sen to RM10.10 and RM5.52, respectively.
Among the active counters, Techhna-X and Key Asic edged up two sen to 15 sen and 23 sen, respectively.
Ucrest expanded 1.5 sen to 50 sen and Dynaciate was down half-a-sen to 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, while 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.
Ringgit up slightly
The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar this morning but remained in a relatively tight trading range due to weak oil prices, which were offset by better risk sentiment and a slightly weaker US dollar.
At 9am, the local unit stood at 4.1140/1180 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.1190/1230.
Axi chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said the weak US dollar was in line with the soft US Treasury yields, which helped the ringgit.
Axi chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said the weak US dollar was in line with the soft US Treasury yields, which helped the ringgit.
At the opening bell, the ringgit was traded mixed against other major currencies.
The ringgit appreciated against the British pound to 5.7341/7401 from 5.7390/7462 and went up against the yen to 3.8082/8126 from 3.8107/8155 yesterday.
However, the local unit fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0977/1016 from 3.0958/0995, and declined against the euro to 4.9520/9572 from 4.9453/9509. – Bernama, April 22, 2021
