KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): Bargain hunting boosted Bursa Malaysia to open higher in sync with Wall Street, driven by the rebound in banking stocks after authorities reassured the market about financial stability.

At 9.09am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.2 points to 1,402.9 compared to last Friday's close of 1,399.7.    

The market bellwether opened 1.25 points higher at 1,400.95.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 158 to 138, while 225 counters were unchanged, 1,751 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 238.62 million units worth RM84.59 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the resumed buying interest on Wall Street indicates investors’ confidence, which could spill over to the local bourse.

The brokerage added that the US consumer confidence and fourth quarter 2022 gross domestic product rate should take centre stage this week.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the US market was supported by the buying momentum in mega-cap tech and other sectors, which helped to lift all major indices into positive territory.

However, he noted that the selling of Deutsche Bank's stocks had a negative impact on market sentiment.

Nonetheless, Thong believes that the banking crisis in the US and Europe has very little impact on Malaysia as the domestic banking system is highly regulated and asset quality risks are well contained.

“The local benchmark index is still in an oversold position, thus we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,400-1,410 for today (Monday)," he said.

Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, Genting Malaysia Bhd bagged nine sen to RM2.64, Genting Bhd rose 10 sen to RM4.60 and Petronas Gas Bhd was 18 sen higher at RM16.30, while Maxis Bhd rose four sen to RM4.02, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd gained four sen to RM4.71.

Among the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd was flat at 12.5 sen, and AT Systematization Bhd was unchanged at one sen, while Jade Marvel Group Bhd improved one sen to 30.5 sen and Tanco Holdings Bhd increased half-a-sen to 46.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index earned 20.12 points to 10,278.3, the FBMT 100 Index added 19.55 points to 9,971.38, the FBM 70 Index garnered 12.79 points to 13,310.51 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 11.71 points to 10,610.92, while the FBM ACE Index dropped 4.74 points to 5,299.08.    

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index grew 13.89 points to 15,463.41 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.62 of-a-point to 166.16, while the Energy Index fell 1.81 points to 801.07 and the Plantation Index shaved off 7.54 points to 6,706.39.