KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bounced higher on encouragement from the strong rebound on Wall Street overnight as investors shrugged off fears over the Omicron strain of the Covid-19 virus.

       Experts have said worries over the discovery of the new coronavirus variant are overblown given there is evidence its symptoms could be "mild" despite a possibility of it being highly infectious.

       US equities indices jumped overnight with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounding nearly 650 points after recent sharp falls.

       At 9.30am, the FBM KLCI was up 4.25 points to 1,487.7 as it took its cue from the US market, especially after yesterday's sharp decline on worries the world's economies could re-enter lockdown.

       Blue chips clambered higher as investors sought out bargains on the hope the rebound will have legs.

       Public Bank rose five sen to RM3.93 and Peronas Chemicals gained nine sen to RM8.40. Maybank was also up two sen to RM8.01 while Axiata climbed six sen to RM3.71.

       On the broader market, the breadth of stocks was positive with 389 gainers compared to 193 decliners.

       Most active counters on Bursa Malaysia were Sapura Energy down two sen to six sen, Kanger falling 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen and XOX unchanged at three sen.

       Moving forward, Malacca Securities Research expects some further rebound on the FBM KLCI as investors reposition into value stocks or heavyweights moving into the year-end window-dressing period.

       Meanwhile, it expects the firmer crude oil price to support energy stocks at least for the near term.

       From a charting perspective however, the research firm said indicators remain negative as the MACD histogram has extended a negative bar while the relative strength index is oversold below 30 points.

       "The next support level is located at 1,480 while the resistance is pegged along 1,500-1,520," it said.