KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open marginally higher due to bargain hunting, in line with Wall Street’s positive performance overnight, a dealer said.

At 9.43am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 0.63 points to 1,426.31 from Wednesday’s close of 1,425.68.

In the broader market, gainers led losers 186 to 175, while 1,275 counters were unchanged, 615 untraded and 35 others suspended.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street rebounded after inflation data came in better than anticipated, adding that the Nasdaq surged almost 127 points and S&P500 gained 18 points.

Back home, he said the FBM KLCI closed lower on Wednesday in tandem with the weak regional performance.

“As for today (Thursday), we expect bargain hunting to emerge, given the cheap valuation of the key index, particularly the banking and telecommunication stocks.

“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,425-1,435 range for today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd increased two sen to RM8.72, Public Bank Bhd rose two sen to RM4.01 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained two sen to RM5.04.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost eight sen to RM7.23, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM5.90.

As for the actives, Bahvest Resources Bhd rose 1.5 sen to 13 sen, while Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd was half-a-sen higher at 20.5 sen and Aimflex Bhd rose half-a-sen to 17.5 sen.

Autocount Dotcom Bhd added 2.5 sen to 70 sen and Seal Incorporated Bhd gained three sen to 44 sen, while Komarkcorp Bhd was flat at nine sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 1.52 points to 10,446.52 and the FBMT 100 Index edged up 0.70 points to 10,143.04, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 15.99 points to 10,781.20, the FBM ACE Index was 27.04 points lower at 5,014.32 and the FBM 70 index trimmed 14.87 points to 13,561.45.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.40 points to 169.15 and the Energy Index decreased 0.31 points to 833.0, while the Financial Services Index strengthened 34.31 points to 15,632.26 and the Plantation Index rose 2.39 points to 6,840.91.