KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The FBM KLCI climbed 0.34% at midday break today, in line with firm regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI pared some of its gains to be up 6.29 points to 1,824.26. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,825.82.

Trading volume was 3,74 billion shares, valued at RM1.95 billion.

The top gainers included Petronas Gas Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

The actives included UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, P.A. Resources Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd, XOX Bhd, Binasat Communications Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Teknologi Bhd and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd.

The decliners included Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Aeon Credit Services (M) Bhd, UOA Development Bhd, LTKM Bhd, Genting Bhd and Genting Malaysia Bhd.

Asian shares crept toward all-time peaks on Monday, after Wall Street boasted its best start to a year in over a decade, with brisk economic growth and benign inflation proving a potent cocktail for risk appetite, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1%, having climbed 3.1% last week, its strongest performance in six months, Reuters said.

Notably, the acquisition of Malaysian equity by foreign funds surged to RM915.1 million in the first week of 2018, up from RM165.1 million the prior week, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian markets ended last week on a positive note, tracking strong gains on Wall Street.

It said the FBM KLCI likewise rose 14.52 points (0.81%) to 1817.97.

The research house added market breadth remained strong, as 696 gainers outnumbered 405 decliners, and as 344 counters remained unchanged.

“From the intraday chart, the FBM KLCI kicked off strong in the morning session soaring by 10.54 points followed by sideways trending for the most of the day before finally closed at its intra-day high.

This reflected bullish sentiment ruling the market on Friday (Jan 5), as evidenced by the increased trading volume. Overall, we believe the technical picture remains positive, with the bullish convergence of the MACD above the signal line, and other key momentum indicators still in positive state.

“From here, we expect a temporary pullback towards support level of 1,793 (S1) over the next few days, before an eventual move towards resistance level 1,835 (R1).

“Once taken out, the next resistance level is at 1,861 (R2), with downside risk limited to 1,751 (S1),” the research house said.