KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): The FBM KLCI managed to reverse some of the losses seen yesterday, thanks to the performances of index-linked rubber glove counters.

The benchmark index was 0.7% or 11.15 points higher at 1,607.73 points.

Buying momentum for rubber glove manufacturers continued today, with Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd leading the gains seen on the headline index.

Specifically, Hartalega finished 4.15% or 42 sen higher at RM10.54, Supermax was up at RM5.77, after rising by 4.15% or 23 sen, while Top Glove finished the day 3.12% or 17 sen higher at RM5.62.

On the whole, most indices were up today, with the FBM Hijrah, FBM 70 and FBM Mids Cap Shariah indices rising the most.

Areca Capital chief executive officer (CEO) Danny Wong said the market will continue to be volatile, and there were no strong catalysts that could have pushed the index firmly up or down today.

He did note that the local market also took cues from other regional markets, which on the whole posted gains, today.

According to Reuters, Asian emerging market bourses were higher today as a result of the recoveries posted by regional equity markets.

“Sentiment across Asia recovered and equities rebounded, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities ex-Japan rising 0.5%. Philippines was the exception, where expected economic impacts of a recent lockdown weighed,” it noted.

Most regional equities were up today. The Nikkei 225 was up 2.38% or 679.92 points at 29,188.17. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong also finished 0.47% or 133.42 points higher at 28,755.34, while the Kospi in Seoul managed to eke a 0.18% or 5.86-point gain at 3,177.52. In contrast, the Shanghai Composite posted a decline today of 0.23% or 7.82 points at 3,465.11.

Back at Bursa Malaysia, a total of 7.9 billion shares worth RM4.98 billion were traded today. Top actives included UCrest Bhd, Key Asic Bhd and Focus Dynamics Group Bhd. Meanwhile, top value gainers were Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hartalega and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd. Top value losers included Dataprep Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Euro Holdings Bhd.