Bursa Malaysia rebounds to open higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open higher today on renewed optimism and revitalised buying interest in selected heavyweights, after the recent heavy losses, dealers said.
At 9.16am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 24.03 points better at 1,743.31 from Wednesday's close of 1,719.28.
The index opened 12.37 points higher at 1,731.65.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 323 to 125, while 1004 counters were unchanged, 482 untraded and 54 others suspended.
Volume stood at 859.67 million units valued at RM332.39 million.
Public Investment Bank Bhd, in a research note today, said that the market recouped some of its losses yesterday after hopes that Italy might manage to avoid a new election underpinned a rebound for the country's stock and government bond markets following steep losses over the past few sessions.
Meanwhile, the research firm said in New York, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% – its biggest one-day gain since May 4 and more than recouping Tuesday's decline.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was 19 sen stronger at RM9.76, Public Bank rose 28 sen to RM24.26, TNB advanced 60 sen to RM14.74, Petronas Chemicals was up 12 sen at RM8.11, and CIMB gained nine sen to RM5.99.
For actives, Sapura Energy improved two sen to 60.5 sen, MyEG rose one sen to 77.5 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum increased three sen to 90.5 sen, while Anzo and P.A Resources were flat at five sen and six sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index added 161.76 points to 12,160.18, the FBMT 100 Index increased 164.25 points to 11,975.94 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 158.19 points to 12,184.33.
The FBM 70 increased 194.6 points to 14,388.76 and the FBM Ace advanced 50.19 points to 5,024.64.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index jumped 241.18 points to 17,430.01, the Plantation Index was 42.46 points higher at 7,798.16 and the Industrial Index improved 16.34 points to 3,069.23.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM161.32 per gramme, up 18 sen from RM161.14 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama