BURSA Malaysia turned positive on Tuesday after a broad recovery rally, thanks to window-dressing activities and risk-on mode.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 14.52 points or 0.98% to 1,497.97 from 1,483.45 at Monday’s close.
The market recovered most of the losses recorded yesterday, which saw the index hitting its lowest in 13 months.
The market bellwether opened 1.49 points better at 1,484.94 and reached its intraday low of 1,484.35 earlier.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 645 to 320, while 404 counters were unchanged, 917 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.29 billion units valued at RM2.25 bil from Monday’s 3.66 billion units valued at RM2.57 bil.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the market was mostly lifted by banking and gaming heavyweights.
Key regional indices including FBM KLCI ended higher on dwindling worries about the economic impact of the Omicron variant.
Yesterday Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Malaysia is on track to achieve economic growth of 3% to 4% this year despite the emergence of the new variant.
Tengku Zafrul said exports had gone up by 25% in the first 10 months of this year compared to last year.
Meanwhile, investors cheered China’s latest economic data, which saw exports beat expectations and its government pledged measures to shore up the economy.
China’s exports increased 22% year-on-year while imports jumped 31.7%.
In addition, the oil market’s improvement helped to boost sentiment with Brent crude hovering near US$75 per barrel.
However, Thong said he remains cautious on the market outlook despite the bargain-hunting today.
At home, heavyweights Public Bank and Maybank gained 11 sen to RM3.99 and RM8.10 respectively.
Axiata was 14 sen stronger at RM3.79, MISC went up 10 sen to RM6.46 and Petronas Chemicals rose 13 sen to RM8.44.
Top Glove lost seven sen to RM2.50, while Hartalega slid 35 sen to RM5.74.
Of the actives, Kanger trimmed one sen to 2.0 sen and Sapura Energy eased 3 sen to 5 sen, while Green Ocean and XOX were flat at 3 sen each.
