KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 ― Bursa Malaysia has rebounded from its steep losses yesterday, boosted by bargain hunting on the first day of the second half of the year.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recovered 5.50 points or 0.33 per cent to 1,537.68, with buying interest seen among the lower liners, telcos, healthcare, energy and financial counters.

The market bellwether opened 0.71 of-a-point higher at 1,533.34 from Wednesday’s close of 1,532.63.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 175 to 155, while 208 counters were unchanged, 1,627 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 206.6 million units valued at RM81.3 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities said it expects bargain hunting activities on the local bourse to emerge on news that the Parliament may reconvene by August.

"Commodities-wise, oil prices rose on reports of lower United States inventories,” it said, adding that investors may be monitoring the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (Opec+) meeting today to see the decision on the next phase of production policy.

The research house said the healthcare sector might see some bargain hunting activities emerging amidst the unabated Covid-19 daily tally after the heavy selldown yesterday.

On the home front, heavyweights CIMB rose five sen to RM4.66, Public Bank was two sen better at RM4.13, while Maxis, Sime Darby Plantation and Genting Malaysia gained four sen to RM4.43, RM4.02 and RM2.81, respectively.

Meanwhile, IOI Corp dropped six sen to RM3.70, Hap Seng shed nine sen to RM7.71, RHB Bank fell two sen to RM5.38 and Petronas Dagangan declined eight sen to RM RM18.52.

Of the actives, Serba Dinamik was down half-a-sen to 32.5 sen, PUC increased half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, and Sedania surged seven sen to 79.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 29.35 points to 11,185.57, the FBMT 100 Index inched up 29.92 points to 10,905.01, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 26.61 points to 12,204.89.

The FBM ACE recovered 75.02 points to 7,024.37 and the FBM 70 was 16.65 points higher at 14,495.64.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index edged up 44.33 points to 15,142.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.02 of-a-point better at 186.32, and the Plantation Index shed 12.14 points to 6,389.34. ― Bernama