KUALA LUMPUR: Some buying of heavyweights including BCHB, Tenaga and Sime Darby helped nudge the KL Composite Index into positive territory in early trade on April 28 while Asian markets staged a mild recovery.

Glove makers and drug maker Pharmaniaga rose as investors expected demand would pick up following the outbreak of the swine flu. However, plantation stocks fell after the crude palm oil futures fell RM100 the previous day.

At 10am, the KL Composite Index was up just 0.28 of a point to 980.4 after falling to a low of 974 in early trade. Turnover was 370.46 million shares valued at RM233.02. There were 200 gainers, 142 losers and 118 counters unchanged.

Light crude oil was slightly lower, down 14 cents to US$50 while the ringgit weakened to RM3.6140 to the US dollar.

Among Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.44% to 8,764.85, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.35% to 1,825.03 but the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.22% to 2,400.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opened 1.5% higher at 15,057.25.

At Bursa, Pharmaniaga rose 28 sen to RM3.80, Kossan 16 sen to RM3.80, Adventa 11 sen to RM1.18 and Supermax nine sen to RM1.69 while Hartalega gained eight sen to RM3.26 and Latexx  6.5 sen to 86.5 sen.

Among the heavyweights, BCHB rose 15 sen to RM8.15, Tenaga, Sime Darby and Bursa advanced five sen higher to RM7.15, RM6.55 and RM6.05.

The decliners were MISC foreign, down 30 sen to RM8.60 with 5,000 shares done.

KL Kepong, SOP and Batu Kawan fell 10 sen each to RM11.40, RM2.20 and RM8.15 respectively.

Smaller bank stocks fell with RHB Cap down six sen to RM4.04 and HL Bank five sen lower to RM5.60.