KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia recovered losses to finish higher boosted mainly by Petronas Chemicals (PChem).

Overall, mild bargain hunting can be seen across sectors except for healthcare, consumer, telecoms and construction.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 4.26 points to 1,424.61 from yesterday’s close of 1,420.35.

The main index opened 2.54 points lower at 1,417.81 and moved between 1,415.10 and 1,425.37 throughout the session.

Market breadth was positive as gainers beat decliners at 479 to 381, while 395 counters were unchanged, 1,036 untraded and 75 others suspended.

Turnover, however, was lower at 3.31 billion units worth RM1.63 billion versus Wednesday’s 3.42 billion units worth RM1.74 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said he expected the short-term outlook of the local market to be positive given the overall improving sentiment both regional and globally.

“Furthermore, we reckon the local market would remain in an oversold position, hence we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend higher within the 1,420-1,435 range towards the weekend,” Thong told Bernama.

Overseas, he said, key regional indices trended mostly higher following a positive cue from Wall Street overnight.

He added that the prospect of a breakup of China’s conglomerate Alibaba suggests that Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on tech companies may be easing, which is a positive development.

“On the other hand, investors remain vigilant about the situation of the banking sector in western countries,” he said.

Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweight counters, Petronas Chemicals jumped 22 sen to RM7.13, while Maybank and Maxis bagged seven sen to RM8.63 and RM4.10 respectively.

MISC gained 10 sen to RM7.28 and CIMB added four sen to RM5.35.

MR DIY lost 12 sen to RM1.53 and IHH eased one sen to RM5.75.

As for the actives, BSL Corp dropped one sen to 1.5 sen, Sapura Energy was half-a-sen lower at 3.5 sen, Computer Forms went down 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Vinvest fell 2.5 sen to 23 sen and Bintai Kinden tumbled two sen to four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 36.39 points to 10,424.41 and the FBMT 100 Index rose 35.91 points to 10,119.28 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 23.71 points to 10,722.79.

The FBM 70 Index grew 71.33 points to 13,481.64 but the FBM ACE Index went down 6.63 points to 5,203.33.