KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia started the day on course for a positive session following the strong rebound on Wall Street overnight.

       According to analysts, investors had time to digest the recent Federal Reserve announcement of potentially more aggressive rate hikes, helping to alleviate some of the uncertainty in the market.

       "following the overnight gains on Wall Street, we opine that the market sentiment will remain positive on the local front, as investors are brushing off concerns over the Fed’s monetary policies and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, while focusing on economic growth at least for the near term.

       "Besides, the declining trend noticed in new Covid-19 cases may bode for the recovery theme," said Malacca Securities Research in a report.

       At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 6.84 points to 1,592.65 as bank counters picked up amidst expectations of a higher interest rate environment.

       Maybank rose four sen to RM8.87, Public Bank gained four sen to RM4.66, CIMB added five sen to RM5.35 and Hong Leong Bank climbed 28 sen to RM20.44.

       Press Metal was up 12 sen to M6.11, Tenaga Nasional gained three sen to RM9.31 and IHH rose five sen to RM6.56.

       Meanwhile, technology stocks also rallied on the back of a 2% gain in the Nasdaq overnight.

       MPI jumped R1.50 to RM37.60, Vitrox rose 24 sen to RM8.05 and KESM gained 19 sen to RM8.85.

       Among actives, CSH added two sen to 18 sen, TWL gained 0.5 sne to six sen and DNeX rose two sne to RM1.05.