KLCI rebounds as banks retrace losses, Wall St performance lifts

KUALA LUMPUR: The local market rebounded in early morning trade on the back of yesterday's sharp retreat that saw the FBM KLCI losing over 20 points.

At 9.05am, the local index had retraced 6.49 points to 1,670.15. Trading volume was 92.96 million shares valued at RM48.9mil. There were 168 gainers versus 49 decliners and 124 counters unchanged.

In its morning note, Kenanga research said overall technical outlook lacks any positive signal as key momentum indicators remain lacklustre. 

"Should the index break above the 1,700 (R1) resistance level, technical outlook would turn positive with next resistance identified at 1,730 (R2). Conversely, downside supports can be found at 1,650 (S1) and 1,630 (S2)," it added.

Public Bank, which was one of the banking heavyweights dragging down the index in the previous session, regained 10 sen to RM23.96. 

Hong Leong Bank also pushed higher by 40 sen to RM20.74 while Maybank rebounded only slightly by two sen to RM9.42.

Stocks receiving the most investor interest included Dynacia slipping 0.5 sen to 9.5 sen, MyEG rising four sen to RM1.34 and Anzo dropping 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen.

Helping to lift local equities was the positive closing on Wall Street overnight as tech shares led by Apple and Micron rallied.

Early Asian market openings were seen advancing including Japan's Nikkei Index gaining 0.15%, South Korea's Kospi Index gaining 0.3% and Australia's ASX200 Index jumping 0.8%.

Oil prices kept steady early Friday following the 1% fall over the previous session. At current levels, prices remain near 2019 highs.

US crude was up four cents to US$60.02 a barrel and Brent crude remained flat at US$67.86 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the ringgit managed to hold on to gains over the US dollar seen yesterday. Early in Friday's session, it rose a marginal 0.04% against the greenback to 4.0595.