KUALA LUMPUR (June 23): Bursa Malaysia rebounded to start on a higher note on Thursday (June 23), climbing slightly above the 1,440 mark on improved buying interest in selected heavyweights led by plantation stocks, a dealer said.

At 9.06am, the FBM KLCI had widened 9.01 points to 1,440.11 from Wednesday's close at 1,431.10.

The benchmark index opened 3.40 points steadier at 1,434.50.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 137 to 96, while 184 counters were unchanged, 1,849 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 144.93 million units worth RM60.99 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said a mild rebound is anticipated on Thursday as the index is hovering close to its support level.

"We expect the local bourse to trend within the range of 1,425-1,445 throughout the day,” he told Bernama.

On Wall Street's overnight performance, he said all three major indices closed lower and the market undertone was cautious as inflationary concerns remained a major headwind.

Among the heavyweights, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) gained 42 sen to RM22.56, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd rose nine sen to RM4.13, IOI Corp Bhd expanded eight sen to RM3.81 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) added three sen to RM8.21, while Petronas Dagangan Bhd was unchanged at RM20.50. 

Of the actives, newly-listed YX Precious Metals Bhd gained two sen to 30 sen, Dataprep Holdings Bhd rose one sen to 20 sen, China Ouhua Winery Holdings Ltd and Jade Marvel Group Bhd stayed at 6.5 sen and 9.1 sen respectively, while NWP Holdings Bhd slid 1.5 sen to 27 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 63.10 points to 10,407.09, FBM 70 increased 55.52 points to 12,415.03, the FBM Emas Index widened 57.671 points to 10,268.9, FBM ACE was slightly higher by 0.38 of a point at 4,715.87 and the FBMT 100 Index surged 58.41 points to 10,010.75.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 88.29 points to 16,064.96, the Plantation Index increased 85.73 points to 6,875.36, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.09 points to 184.15.