KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Bursa Malaysia staged a rebound and opened higher in early trading today, supported by sustained buying momentum despite Wall Street’s mixed overnight performance.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.60 points to 1,580.06 from Tuesday’s close of 1,576.46.

The benchmark index opened 5.87 points higher at 1,582.33.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 132 to 113, while 277 counters were unchanged, 1,853 untraded, and 10 suspended.

Turnover stood at 90.37 million units valued at RM52.24 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said that Wall Street’s performance was mixed for the second day, as the selling of big tech stocks persisted despite the lower-than-expected US Producer Price Index.

He noted that the traders are now focusing on today’s US Consumer Price Index data.

Back home, Thong said the sudden late sell-off in yesterday’s closing session was surprising and might have been triggered by foreign funds.

"Nonetheless, we believe a quick rebound is likely, and we anticipate the index to hover between the 1,575 and 1,585 range today.

"At the current level, market valuations are considered cheap at 14.5 times, compared to the historical average of 16.5 times,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM10.22, CIMB and Public Bank increased one sen each to RM7.08 and RM4.41, respectively, and Tenaga bagged four sen to RM13.86, while IHH fell one sen to RM7.07.

Yinson, which resumed its trading today, rose by seven sen to RM2.77, with 1.94 million shares changing hands.

In active stocks, Velocity Capital, Elridge Energy and Yew Lee Pacific were flat at eight sen, 46 sen and 55.5 sen, respectively, while Harvest Miracle added one sen to 20.5 sen and YTL Power advanced three sen to RM3.84.

On the broader index, the FBM Emas Index gained 23.09 points to 12,140.06, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 17.12 points to 12,070.65, and the FBMT 100 Index climbed 24.53 points to 11,826.17.

The FBM 70 Index added 28.92 points to 18,259.82, while the FBM ACE Index increased 8.93 points to 5,269.51.

By sector, the Energy Index grew 1.60 points to 834.62, the Financial Services Index jumped 30.60 points to 18,793.43, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.67 of-a-point to 167.73, and the Plantation Index gained 1.19 points to 7,400.55. — Bernama