KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open higher on Friday, despite a weaker overnight US market.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,635.09, down 2.22 points from Thursday’s close of 1,632.87.

The index had initially opened 2.07 points higher at 1,634.94.

Advancers outpaced decliners on the broader market 164 to 131, with 264 counters unchanged, 1,796 untraded, and 11 suspended.

Turnover stood at 119.32 million units, valued at RM69.23 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd favours the oil and gas sector amid the surge in Brent crude oil prices while maintaining a positive outlook on export-oriented sectors like glove and technology.

“The breakout in gold prices could present trading opportunities in gold-related counters. Moving forward, we expect data centre investments to begin materialising in earnings within the construction, building materials, and utilities sectors,” it said in a note today.

Among heavyweights, CIMB advanced five sen to RM8.18, TNB increased four sen to RM14.80, IHH Healthcare gained two sen to RM7.32, Hong Leong Bank bagged 16 sen to RM20.58, CelcomDigi was flat at RM3.65, Maybank shed two sen to RM10.16 and Public Bank declined one sen to RM4.53.

In active stocks, Datasonic garnered 1.5 sen to 43.5 sem, Vetece Holdings firmed 2.5 sen to 55 sen, Carlo Rino added one sen to 21.5 sen, Yew Lee Pacific and Winstar Capital were flat at 51 sen and 71 sen, respectively while SNS Network eased one sen to 69 sen and Jiankun inched down half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.

On the broader index, the FBM Emas Index appreciated 21.60 points to 12,558.18, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 19.39 points to 12,569.17, and the FBMT 100 Index was 1631 points higher at 12,230.13.

The FBM 70 Index scored 24.19 points to 18,854.12 while the FBM ACE Index rose 5.77 points to 5,437.87.

By sector, the Energy Index gained 11.77 points to 842.19, the Financial Services Index bounced 20.04 points to 19,080.49, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.06 of-a-point to 174.19, and the Plantation Index declined 1.93 points to 7,621.50. — Bernama