KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday's losses to open higher today, taking the cue from the strong overnight rebound seen in Wall Street.

At 9.06am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 14.24 points or 0.97% to 1,481.18 from Monday’s close of 1,466.94.

At the opening bell, the FBM KLCI opened 9.36 points firmer at 1,476.30.

Gainers led losers by 350 to 45 on the broader market, with 141 counters unchanged, 1,462 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 280.02 million shares worth RM141.83 million.  

In a note today, Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB) said given the strong overnight recovery on the Wall Street, bargain hunting could lift the current sombre mood in the domestic market.

"Technically, we expect the FBM KLCI to range between 1,450 and 1,500 today, while downside supports are revised to 1,450 and 1,435," it said.

Expectations that policymakers would move to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the global economy had sent the overnight Wall Street to snap its seven-day losing streak and rebound by 4.6%.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM8.42, Tenaga added six sen to RM12.56, Public Bank bagged 32 sen to RM17.40, IHH was two sen firmer at RM5.70 and CIMB increased four sen to RM4.64.

Of the actives, energy stocks like Sapura Energy, Bumi Armada and KNM accumulated one sen each to 17 sen, 32 sen and 21 sen, respectively, while Avillion and Pansar were unchanged at 16 sen and 64.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 112.88 points to 10,467.49, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 109.93 points to 11,128.64 while the FBMT 100 Index was 108.04 points better at 10,282.51.

The FBM 70 advanced 172.79 points to 12,817.34 and the FBM Ace perked 78.012 points to 5,336.56.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.46 points to 132.39, the Financial Services Index rebounded 142.53 points to 14,291.25 and the Plantation Index strengthened 34.0 points to 6,753.48.