KUALA LUMPUR (May 27): The FBM KLCI staged a firm technical rebound today, boosted by late buying support in several index-linked stocks.

The index closed up 16.08 points or 1.02% at the day's high of 1,593.9, helped by last-minute buying in stocks like Public Bank Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd and Maxis Bhd.

When contacted, remisier Jeffry Azizi Jaafar said the KLCI staged a “solid technical rebound” as investors positioned themselves towards the blue-chips counters.

“I believe this was also partly due to the market having priced in all the negative news, mainly in relation to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country,” he added.

Market observers said the fresh buying was also  prompted by encouraging corporate results for the January to March quarter

Across Bursa Malaysia 8.61 billion shares were traded, up 36% compared with 6.34 billion shares on Tuesday. Trading value jumped 92% to 7.32 billion from RM3.82 billion.

The market breadth was mixed with 555 gainers versus 492 decliners, while 463 counters were unchanged.

All but one of Bursa Malaysia's indices closed lower, the exceptions being the Energy Index, which fell 0.02% to 864.09.

The Technology Index rose the most in percentage terms, rising 1.7% to 80.82. This was followed by the Financial Services, and Telecommunications and Media indices, which gained 1.6% and 1.37% respectively.

The day's top gainers by value included index-linked stocks Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Hong Leong Bank, Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd and Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd.

Notable losers included Heineken (M) Bhd, British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd, KPower Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Khind Holdings Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd and PPB Group Bhd.

The most actively traded stocks were Privasia Technology Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd, Progressive Impact Corp Bhd, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd, Securemetric Bhd, SC Estate Builder Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.

Reuters reported that Asian shares reversed early losses today and hovered near two-week highs while the dollar held at a one-week top as investors awaited key US data to gauge whether inflationary pressures were transient or signalled a more durable turn.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.33%, South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.09% while Singapore’s STI gained 0.6% and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed up 0.43%.