KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): The FBM KLCI continued its winning streak for the third straight session today, in tandem with the performance of regional markets.

At closing bell, the benchmark KLCI was up 0.3% or 4.88 points at 1,631.54. Trading volume increased to 1.62 billion shares worth RM1.65 billion. Market breadth was mixed, as there were 463 gainers against 375 losing counters, while 356 counters remained unchanged.

The day's top gainers included Petronas Gas Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Astral Asia Bhd and Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, while the lagging movers were British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Globetronics Technology Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd.

The most actively traded counter was Sanichi Technology Bhd, with 73.64 million shares traded.

TA Securities technical analyst Steven Soo is of the view that volatile trade on Bursa Malaysia is expected to prolong, at least until after the Chinese New Year holidays.

"Volatile trade is expected for the KLCI, with both Brent and US crude WTI (West Texas Intermediate) continuing to trade at low levels. News reports that Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has been placed on review for a downgrade by Moody's Investors Service also did not help to boost investor sentiment," he told theedgemarkets.com today.

"Aside from that, the local stock market is also bracing for the outcome from the revised Budget 2016, which is due to be announced tomorrow," added Soo.

At press time, Brent crude oil was trading at US$31.18 per barrel, while WTI was at US$30.65 per barrel.

According to Reuters, Asian stocks held near the day's lows today, as a relapse in oil prices and fresh drops in Chinese stocks made sentiment even more fragile before a US Federal Reserve policy statement due later.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 2.72%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 1.02%, while South Korea's Kospi was higher by 1.4%.

The ringgit showed some strength. At time of writing, the ringgit was trading at 4.2513 against the US dollar from levels of 4.2933 yesterday, and was trading at 2.9775 against the Singapore dollar from levels of 3.0006 yesterday.

According to a Bloomberg report, the sentiment toward the ringgit is finally turning around as the local currency rose more than any other in emerging markets, following news that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was cleared in an alleged corruption probe.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)