KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded yesterday to close marginally higher, as investors went on bargain hunting activities and shrugged off concerns about the Omicron variant.

       At yesterday’s close, the benchmark FBM KLCI rose 3.41 points to 1,513.98.

       Gainers led losers 576 to 464, while 392 counters were unchanged, and 873 untraded.

       However, the volume decreased to 5.675 billion units valued at RM7.97bil, compared with Monday’s 6.14 billion units worth RM5.19bil.

       Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau (pic) said the rebound was partly due to MSCI’s index rebalancing activities and also, “window dressing for November.”

       Changes in constituents of the MSCI Global Standard Indexes had taken place at yesterday’s close.

       “Our market has been down for some time, so the rebound is not unusual. There is also a lot of bargain hunting activities for those oversold stocks. There was some initial panic over the Omicron variant but the markets have calmed somewhat,” said Lau.

       However, Lau said the market outlook this week will still be range bound, although there might be volatility depending on Covid-19 pandemic newsflow.

       Lau pointed out that financial markets were spooked by news quoting drugmaker Moderna chief executive Stéphane Bancel saying current Covid-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant.

       “In the next few days, investors may take a wait-and-see attitude; whether borders are tightening. It’s also the December holiday season when the books are closing and more people will be taking leave from work,” he said.

       Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau (pic) said the rebound was partly due to MSCI’s index rebalancing activities and also, “window dressing for November.”

       On Bursa, the top gainers included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd which rose RM1.70 to RM25.60; Genetec Technology Bhd which rose RM1.70 to RM39.40; and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd which rose 90 sen to RM21.04.

       Top losers included AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd which dropped 50 sen to RM12.90; UMS Holdings Bhd which dropped 20 sen to RM2.10; and Genting Bhd which dropped 18 sen to RM4.40.

       Glovemakers also pared recent gains.

       Meanwhile, Bernama reported that on the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 28.91 points to 11,083.78, the FBMT 100 Index perked up 29.33 points to 10,769.57, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 67.70 points to 12,128.62.

       The FBM 70 advanced 59.30 points to 14,441.62 and the FBM ACE climbed 14.03 points to 6,529.94.

       Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.99 points higher at 195.04, the Financial Services Index fell 8.89 points to 15,034.52, and the Plantation Index ticked up 76.32 points to 6,432.64.

       Bernama also noted that warrants turnover dwindled to 422.05 million units worth RM71.79mil against 518.29 million units worth RM66.39mil previously.

       The volume on the ACE Market decreased to 997.19 million shares valued at RM403.62mil from 2.17 billion shares valued at RM747.12mil yesterday.