KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): The FBM KLCI finished up 29.87 points or 2.01% at its intraday high of 1,519.43 today after a final hour spike on bargain hunting and institutional support and as crude palm oil (CPO) prices rose with crude oil prices.

Fund managers said investors are also evaluating a confluence of factors including the rising number of global Covid-19 cases and political uncertainties.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong Teck Meng told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI had rebounded today on bargain hunting after falling 19.91 points or 1.3% yesterday.

Today, Wong said institutional investors bought blue chip stocks possibly in anticipation that these companies will report better earnings for the third quarter of 2020 on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

“On the overall market sentiment, retailers (retail investors) could be concerned over the rising (number of)  Covid-19 cases and political uncertainty,” Wong said.

Across Bursa Malaysia, trading volume stood at 6.29 billion securities worth RM3.23 billion.

Notable gainers across Bursa included KLCI stocks Petronas Gas Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd as global crude oil prices rose. Petronas Gas’ share price closed up 84 sen or 5.22% at RM16.94 while Petronas Dagangan rose 56 sen or 2.93% to RM19.66.

Globally, it was reported that crude oil prices inched up on Thursday as oil workers evacuated rigs in the US Gulf of Mexico ahead of Hurricane Delta, though fuel demand concerns persisted on fading chances for a US economic stimulus deal and a build in US crude inventories.

It was reported that US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 3 cents, or 0.1%, to US$39.98 a barrel at 0435 GMT, after falling 1.8% on Wednesday

"Brent crude futures rose 9 cents, or 0.2%, to US$42.08 a barrel, after falling 1.6% on Wednesday,” Reuters reported.

Costlier crude oil generates expectation of higher demand for CPO to produce biodiesel.

On Bursa today, CPO price for October 2020 rose RM10 to RM3,000 a tonne while CPO for the November 2020 contract climbed RM18 to RM2,944 a tonne.