KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher at the start of Friday trading as bargain hunting activities emerged following last week's sell-off.
At the opening today, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 0.79 points to 1,456.68 from yesterday's closing at 1,453.29.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI pared losses yesterday as bargain hunting emerged after the index fell to its day low of 1,451.35.
Nonetheless, Thong said the benchmark index still ended in negative territory.
"We remain vigilant despite the rebound in regional markets. Notwithstanding this, we believe the local market is undervalued, providing opportunities for investors to accumulate stocks at attractive levels.
"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,450-1,460 range for today," he told Business Times today.
There was cautious movement among the blue-chips counters, with some selling in MISC Bhd which down six sen to RM7.13, CelcomDigi Bhd dropping two sen to RM4.18 and IHH Healthcare Bhd shedding one sen to RM5.83.
Genting Malaysia Bhd, which announced its results yesterday, jumped six sen to RM2.64, Allianz Malaysia Bhd gained 40 sen to RM18.28 and YTL Power International Bhd climbed six sen to RM2.36.
Among the heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd rose two sen to RM9.11, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose one sen to RM5.75 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd increased two sen to RM7.18.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd was flat at RM10.02 while Public Bank Bhd fell two sen to RM4.25.