KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia experienced a short-lived rebound in the previous session as fears over the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus were rekindled as the UK raised its alert level amid a surge in new infections.

       Sentiment in the US and European markets were hit by the alarm raised by the UK authorities as they scrambled to curb the spread of the new strain of virus, which had surged to 3,137 cases in the country, up 65% from 1,898 last Saturday.

       At 9.10am, the Malaysia's benchmark FBM KLCI tracked the heightened caution, retreating 3.71 points to 1,491.15.

       The index had attempted to bounce higher in the previous sessions but struggled to break free of the 1,500 psychological level, which reflected ongoing weakness and uncertainty.

       Investors are also looking forward to monetary policy decisions from global banks including the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan, over the coming week.

       On the FBMKLCI, blue chips took a step back as the threat of Omicron launching a fourth wave of the pandemic put investors in risk-off mode.

       Maybank was down six sen to RM8.12, CIMB dropped two sen to RM5.22, Hong Leong Bank slipped 10 sen to RM18.18 and Public Bank was unchanged at RM4.

       Among commodities plays, Press Metal fell three sen to RM5.44, Sime Darby Plantation dropped seven sen to RM3.70 and Petronas Gas shed 10 sen to RM16.60.

       The threat of a worsening pandemic bolstered glove pries, including TOop Glove up six sen to RM2.07, Hartalega rising three sen to RM5.05 and Supermax gaining four sen to RM1.35.

       Top actives included AT Sytemization up 0.5 sen to five sen, Sapura Energy unchanged at five sen and LKL rising 0.5 sen to six sen.