KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): The FBM KLCI rose 1.07% at mid-morning, in tandem with its regional peers.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI rose 19.60 points to 1,835.54.

Gainers led losers by 548 to 207, while 275 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 657.35 million shares valued at RM289.97 million.

The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Co Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd, Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd.

The actives included SKH Consortium Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, PUC Bhd, Berjaya Corp Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd.

The losers included Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, KLCC Property Holdings Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, PPB Group Bhd and Bertam Alliance Bhd.

Asian shares bounced from two-month lows on Thursday as world equities recovered from a selloff triggered by escalating Sino-US trade tensions, with investors hoping a full-blown trade war between the world's two biggest economies can be averted, according to Reuters.

Sentiment was lifted as the United States expressed willingness to negotiate a resolution to the trade fight after the proposed US tariffs on US$50 billion in Chinese goods prompted a quick response from Beijing that it would retaliate by targeting key American imports, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders' brief said that although some of Trump's administration officials have come out to ease the situation by reiterating that they will continue to engage in discussions with China to address the trade issues, the volatility may revisit should there be any reciprocal actions done by the US or China. Hence the Dow could still trade within the range of 23,550-24,600.

"The strong rebound sentiment could spill over to Bursa Malaysia after FBM KLCI slumped near to 2% yesterday.

"However, under this cautious environment, we believe traders may take the opportunity to sell into strength ahead of the anticipated dissolution of parliament," it said.