KUALA LUMPUR (May 31): The FBM KLCI has been on an upward trend for the fifth consecutive day today, bucking regional trend as sentiment improves over certain better-than-expected corporate earnings. In addition, some foreign stockbroking houses have upgraded Malaysian stock market.

At market close, the benchmark index climbed 14.26 points or 0.87% to close at its intra-day high of 1,650.76 points.

For the week, the benchmark index has gained 52 points, or 3.28%.

When contacted, CIMB Research analyst Nick Foo Mun Pang told theedgemarkets.com that Malaysian market was oversold at below 1,600 points last week, and it was staging a rebound this week.

"The KLCI went up by 52 points (3.28%) week-on-week, sentiment has improved after foreign research houses like HSBC and UBS upgraded Malaysian market," he said.

"Next week will be a holiday-shortened week, we believe KLCI would be range bound around 1,650 points as we expect the market to have less trading activities," said Foo.

On Wednesday, UBS and HSBC upgraded Malaysian stock market, saying that it displays "defensive" qualities amidst US-China trade war.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd CEO Danny Wong concurred that the local bourse has staged a rebound from its oversold position last week, coupled with positive surprises from Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd's (TM) earnings.

Reuters reported today that Asian shares extended a month-long slide and sovereign bonds surged on Friday after US President Donald Trump ramped up trade tensions globally by suddenly slapping tariffs on all goods from Mexico, sending the peso tumbling.

Japan's Nikkei fell by 1.63% today, Hong Kong Hang Seng Index also declined 0.79%, while South Korean Kospi rose by 0.14%.

On the home front, Bursa Malaysia saw 2.23 billion shares done, worth RM2.56 billion. There were 395 gainers versus 464 losers, with 383 counters remained unchanged.

Notable gainers include Tenaga, TM, and Digi.Com Bhd, while biggest loser was structured call warrants that track S&P 500 (S&P500-CH).

The top three most actively traded counters are structured warrants that track the Hang Seng Index, namely HSI-C5Q, HSI-H6S, and HSI-C5P.

TM was also the fourth most actively traded counter today, with 64.05 million shares changing hands.