KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was seen ticking higher in early trade as investors recovered after yesterday's sell-off.

       At 9.15pm, the index was up 2.76 points to 1,536.88 as investors picked up on bargains.

       "Investors may look for laggard counters with high earnings visibility ahead of the February reporting season," said Malacca SEcuritie Research.

       "Whie the local bourse may take its cure from the overnight losses from Wall Street, investors may look out for bargain-hunting activities especially in the consumer-related sector amid the economic recovery as well as the technology sector given its positive prospects over the longer run," it added.

       From a technical view, the research firm said the indicators were positive as the MACD histogram has extended a positive bar while the RSI overed above the 50% level.

       It pegged support to 1,505 while resistance stands at 1,560.

       On the blue-chip index, early gainers included Public Bank up two sen to RM4.14, CIMB up two sen to RM5.45 and Petronas Chemicals rising four sen to RM8.77.

       On the broader market Sam Engineering gained 44 sen to RM24.14, TransOcean climbing 14 sen to RM3.21 and Hoover gaining 12 sen to RM1.05.

       Most actives included DGB unchanged at three sen, SMTrack up one sen to 29 sen and AT Systemization flat at three sen.

       MPI dropped 20 sen to RM48.84, PMBTech sliding 12 sen to RM12.44 and Artroniq sliding 12 sen to 51.5 sen.