KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today, taking the cue from the overnight Wall Street performance which rebounded on bargain hunting after large losses were incurred the previous day, dealers said.

At 9.04am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.40 of-a-point better at  1,601.19 from Thursday's close of 1,600.79.

The barometer index opened 2.94 points better at 1,603.73.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 173 to 69, while 248 counters were unchanged, 1,746 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 162.24 million worth RM50.33 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI shed gains in tandem with regional peers yesterday, after the US Federal Reserve meeting minutes put investors’ focus on the possibility of more aggressive US interest rate hikes.

"Still, we expect the local bourse to trade in a consolidation mode as investors mulled over the US hawkish stance, as well as the Russia sanctions. Nevertheless, we believe the downside risk may be cushioned by recovery in business activities," it said.

 Commodity-wise, it noted that both crude oil and crude palm oil (CPO) were traded lower, hovering above US$100 per barrel and RM5,800 per tonne, respectively.

"Given the elevated crude oil and CPO futures prices, we expect investors to favour plantation and selected oil and gas (O&G) counters over the near term until the May reporting season.

"Meanwhile, we remain optimistic on recovery-themed sectors, as well as the construction and building material segments as traders may position themselves ahead of the 15th general election (GE15) albeit the timeline is still unclear," it added.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.69, Petronas Chemicals fell eight sen to RM10.10, CIMB Group slipped four sen to RM5.31, while Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.83 and RM6.41 respectively.

Of the actives, Brahims declined eight sen to 3.5 sen, TWL and Yong Tai edged up half-a-sen to 8.5 sen and 13 sen, respectively, while China Ouhua and TWL warrant were flat at 9.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively. 

On the index board, FBMT 100 Index added 8.93 points to 11,162.06, FBM Emas Index was 10.72 points higher at 11,510.58, and FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 19.19 points to 12,153.74.

FBM 70 advanced 36.20 points to 13,971.57 while FBM ACE eased 5.90 points to 5,822.42.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.19 of-a-point to 211.37, the Financial Services Index slipped 15.56 points to 16,753.88, while the Plantation Index rose 11.17 points to 8,347.93. — Bernama