KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): The FBM KLCI regained some ground in the morning trade today after the selloff on Monday and was up 0.28% in line with regional markets.
At 10.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 5.10 points to 1,847.72.
Gainers led losers by 492 to 174, while 282 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 785.08 million shares valued at RM427.12 million.
The top gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Scientex Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Heineken Malaysia Bhd.
The actives included NWP Holdings Bhd, Trive Property Group Bhd, Wegmans Holdings Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, HB Global Ltd, DGB Asia Bhd and Sino Hua-An International Bhd.
The losers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Padini Holdings Bhd.
Asian share regained some ground on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump faced growing pressure from political allies to pull back from proposed steel and aluminium tariffs, easing investor worries about an imminent trade war, according to Reuters.
The impact of Italy's inconclusive election results was limited to a mild sell-off in Italian bonds and stocks, with the euro gaining support from the creation of a coalition government in Germany, it said.
Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said that with the Dow snapping a four-day winning streak and rebounded fairly strongly, the market participants have taken a back seat on the impact of the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminium for the near term.
“However, we think the rebound may face with profit taking activities ahead of the March FOMC meeting on the back of cautious tone on the interest rate outlook. Also, traders will be focusing on the NAFTA renegotiations that could trigger jittery moments in the stock markets.
“The positive performance on the overnight Wall Street is likely to spillover towards Bursa Malaysia and we opine that investors could bargain hunt on selected oversold steel or aluminium companies and O&G sector amid the rebound in Brent oil,” it said.