KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open higher today on bargain-hunting activities.
At 9.05am, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.50 points to 1,584.96 from Monday’s close of 1,583.46.
The index opened 0.21 of-a-point weaker at 1,583.25.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 214 to 151, while 296 counters were unchanged, 1,542 untraded and five others suspended.
Meanwhile, the ringgit strengthened against the US dollar in the early session as the latter has been trading broadly weaker in the wake of last week’s sub-par US retail sales data.
At 9am, the local currency was traded at 4.1250/1290 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.1290/1325.
SPI Asset Management global managing partner Stephen Innes said that while bearish US dollar is still very much the consensus, concerns on Covid-19 cases continue to weigh on Asian foreign exchange trading.
“The pandemic and related issues have been negatively skewing local units where the sharp rise in cases has caused governments to either impose lockdowns or move back into more restrictive mobility measures,” he told Bernama. – Bernama, May 18, 2021
