Bursa bounces higher as energy prices soar

KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market bounced higher in early trade as the rising energy prices continue to lift energy and plantation counters.

While Wall Street dove overnight on heightened anxieties over Russia's intensified attack on Ukraine, Bursa Malaysia has been seeing a flurry of buying activity on the back of energy counters.

At the time of writing, Brent crude futures were up 2.25% to US$107.36 a barrel while crude palm oil futures had jumped 6.82% to R8.720 a tonne.

At 9.10am, the FBM KLCI was up 5.93 points to 1,602.37.

Petronas Chemicals was seen climbing 17 sen to RM9.77 while top active oil-related counters included Hibiscus Petroleum gaining one sne ot RM1.23 and Bumi Armada rising 1.5 sen to 48 sen.

In plantations, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 36 sen to RM26.40, IOI added two sen to RM4.62 and Sime Darby Plantation gained eight sen to RYM4.99.

Bank stocks were also buoyed by the higher commodities prices with Maybank rising five sen to RM8.95, Hong Leong Bank adding 24 sen to RM20.64 and CIMB gaining two sen to RM5.31.

On the top actives list, SMTrack was up 1.5 sen to 24 sen, DNeX gained three sen to RM1.15 and Bioalpha Holdings gained 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen.