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KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market remained positive in morning trade as investors held on to oversold counters to capitalise on a potential dovish turn in US central bank policy.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 10.88 points to 1,404.71. Over the broader market, there were 547 gainers to 247 decliners for a positive breadth.
Trading volume was 2.1 billion shares valued at RM1.26bil.
The recent fallout in the US banking sector has traders speculating that the US Federal Reserve will reconsider implementing further rate hikes, or at least slow the increase, as it weighs the risk of destabilising the financial system.
Asian markets were seen bouncing higher as investors returned to equities although they had yet to return to levels prior to the collapse of US tech lender Silicon Valley Bank last week.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2% to 27,264, South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.5% to 2,383 and China’s composite index added 0.7% to 3,267.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was up 1.3% to 19,490 and Australia’s ASX200 gained 0.7% to 7,058.
On Bursa Malaysia, investors flocked to ACE Market debutant Oppstar, which rallied 250% above its issue price to RM2.24 over the morning session.
The stock was the second most heavily traded with 134.89 million shares exchanging hands as at the lunch break.
Topping the actives list was Hong Seng, which rose 0.5 sen to 15 sen on the back of 294.24 million shares crossing.
Following the overnight rebound on the US Nasdaq, Bursa Malaysia’s technology index was up 0.9% to 61.65, regaining some ground after six straight days of losses that saw it plunge deep into November 2022 levels of trading.
Leading the sector higher, D&O rebounded six sen to RM4.25, Frontken gained four sne to RM3.04, MI Technovation rose six sen to RM1.84 and MPI rallied 36 sen to RM28.94.
Bank stocks were also on the mend as Maybank gained four sen to RM8.38, CIMB rose four sen to RM5.21, Public Bank climbed 10 sen to RM3.98, Hong Leong Bank put on six sen to RM20.02 and RHB added six sen to RM5.54
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