FBM KLCI continues to retrace higher

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI's rebound gained momentum headed into midday as fears over the economic impact of the new strain of Covid-19 virus subsided.

Overnight, US President Joe Biden had said there would be no new lockdowns in the country resulting from the Omicron variant at this juncture.

On Bursa Malaysia, the market breadth turned positive with 636 gainers versus 317 decliners

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 7.1 points to 1,517.67 as commodities plays Petronas Chemicals and Press Metal rebounded strongly following the easing of anxieties.

Petronas Chemicals, which had been one of the top losers during the recent sell-off, bounced 42 sen higher to RM8.63.

Aluminium producer Press Metal also retraced 13 sen to RM5.36 on the back of returning optimism over the demand for the industrial metal.

Meanwhile, Petronas Gas was up 52 sen to RM16.82 and Digi jumped nine sen to RM4.22.

Moving in the opposite direction, Top Glove fell 27 sen to RM2.82 as invetors took profit off a recent surge in the glove counters.

Hartalega dropped 39 sen to RM6.01 while Supermax slipped 21 sen to RM1.94.

Meanwhile top actives on Bursa Malaysia were ATA IMS, eking out a one sen gain to 53 sen, DNeX slipping 0.5 sen to 79 sen and LKL dropping one sen to 10 sen.

In Asia, equities markets were mixed even as Wall Street's positive overnight performance lent cautious optimism that there will not be a repeat of the global disruption caused by the Delta variant of the virus.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4% and China's benchmark index gained 0.2%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi however were each down 1.1% apiece on ongoing concerns over the virus.

Australia's ASX200 was up 0.7%.