KUALA LUMPUR: The rally on Bursa Malaysia continued on Wednesday following a strong performance on Wall Street overnight as investors picked up bargains in an oversold market.

       At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 4.93 points to 1,553.53. There were twice the number of gainers compared with losers at 223 to 112.

       "We are expecting that the broad-based recovery on the local bourse could extend in tandem with the rebound on Wall Street overnight following the release of retail sales data in April and optimism on China’s announcement on easing lockdowns," said Malacca Securities Research.

       On the blue-chip index, Petronas Chemicals took the lead with a six sen jump to RM10.08.

       Press Metal, which led gains in the previous session, pared six sen to RM5.32.

       Banks, meanwhile, were mostly higher with Hong Leong Bank gaining 14 sen to RM20.88, CIMB adding two sen to RM5.08 and Public Bank rising one sen to RM4.54. Maybank however was down two sen to RM8.93.

       Technology counters were buoyed by the strong showing on the Nasdaq overnight. MPI added 70 sen to RM32.40, Vitrox rose 22 sen to RM7.47 and Greatech climbed eight sen to RM3.83.

       Among the most active stocks, Sapura Energy was flat at 7.5 sen, Technax dropped 3.5 sen to 4.5 sen and Serba Dinamik was unchanged at 16.5 sen.