KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets regained their upward momentum at the midday break on April 9, spurred by hopes of Japan’s US$154 billion stimulus package, while the positive effect spilled over to Bursa, which saw Tanjong, LPI and KL Kepong among the gainers.

The positive sentiment also saw some interest in penny stocks. The KLCI recovered most of the previous day’s losses while the country awaits Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement of a new Cabinet line-up at 3pm.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI rose 9.57 points or 1.05% to 917.44. Turnover was 318.12 million shares valued at RM411.56 million. There were 261 gainers, 134 losers and 157 counters unchanged.

Crude palm oil futures rose RM55 to RM2,173 while light crude oil rose 80 cents to US$50.18.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 3.32% to 8,880.35, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.3% to 14,808.21 and Singapore’s Straits Times added 2.02% to 1,820.07.

At Bursa, Tanjong rose 40 sen to RM14.10, LPI 30 sen to RM9.40 and Choo Bee 28 sen to RM1.38. BAT added 25 sen to RM46 while among plantations, KL Kepong and Far East added 20 sen each to RM11 and RM5.45.

Top Glove and Kossan also notched some healthy gains, underpinned by the firm outlook for gloves. Top Glove added 20 sen to RM5.30 and Kossan 16 sen to RM3.12.

Maybank-OR fell 3.5 sen to 98.5 sen with 28.6 million units done.  However, Berjaya Crop added 8.5 sen to 65.5 sen, the strong gains in recent months, with 12.5 million shares done. BCorp-LC added six sen to 33.5 sen.

Kamdar fell the most, down 12.5 sen to 15.5 sen with 5,000 shares done. Wijaya fell 11.5 sen to 38.5 sen and Wijaya-WA seven sen to five sen.