KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 13): The FBM KLCI rebounded in the afternoon trading session today, after Istana Negara issued a statement confirming that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has had an audience with the King.

In the statement that was issued at around 3pm, the Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said the opposition leader has told the King of the number of members of Parliament (MPs) supporting him.

The comptroller, however, said Anwar did not reveal the identities of the lawmakers to back up his claim. He further said the King then advised Anwar to “abide by and respect the legal processes as enshrined in the Federal Constitution”.

The FBM KLCI was hovering in the negative zone throughout the morning session. However, it staged a rebound from an intraday low of 1,512.18 points at 3:30pm. The benchmark index climbed 13.62 points from the intraday low to close at 1,525.20.

It gained 6.77 points or 0.45% against yesterday’s closing. Counters that lifted the index were Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd and IOI Corp Bhd.

However, on the broader market, share price performance was mixed with 444 counters posting gains, 427 counters seeing declines and 535 counters unchanged.

Trading volume was at 5.97 billion shares across the board today, with a total turnover of RM3.89 billion.

The continued news flow on the rising number of new Covid-19 cases locally and globally has kept glove counters on investors’ buying lists. 

Top Glove Corp Bhd went up 1.34% or 12 sen at RM9.09, valuing the world’s biggest glove maker at RM74.4 billion. Hartalega Holdings Bhd rose 0.5% or eight sen to RM17.58, giving it a market capitalisation of RM60.26 billion. 

Supermax Corp Bhd gained 2.21% or 22 sen to RM10.18, valuing it at some RM27.70 billion, while Kossan added 0.81% or six sen to RM7.51, resulting in a market capitalisation of RM9.60 billion. 

The smaller rubber glove players made a bigger jump today. Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd — the second largest gainer in value — soared 14.2% or 92 sen to RM7.40, while Comfort Gloves Bhd leapt 13.73% or 53 sen to RM4.39.

Advance Synergy Bhd continued to top the list of most actively traded stocks, with 554.23 million shares changing hands, which is more than half of its issued share capital of 929 million shares.  

Kanger International Bhd was the second most traded counter with 256.81 million shares transacted, followed by AT Systematization Bhd, whose trading volume swelled to 228.9 million shares. 

Top gainers were Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Rubberex and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd. Top losers were Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and MISC Bhd.

Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.2% or 530.55 points to 24,649.68, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.28 points to 3,359.75. 

Japan's Nikkei 225 was up by 0.18% or 43.09 points at 23,601.78, while South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.02% or 0.58 points at 2,403.15.

According to Reuters, Asian markets steadied today after Chinese trade data underscored economic recovery in the republic, with fresh optimism on further stimulus in the US expected to keep global investor sentiment elevated.