KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): The FBM KLCI remained flat at mid-morning today and stayed firmly above the 1,700 level, lifted by select blue chips.  

At 10.04am, the FBM KLCI was up 0.54 points to 1,718.36.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Sapura Industrial Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Parkson Holdings Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Oriental Food Industries Bhd, Genting Bhd and Pharmaniaga Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Luster Industries Bhd, EKA Noodles Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd and AirAsia Bhd.

The decliners included Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Scientex Bhd, IOI Corporation Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd and Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd.

Asian shares rose on Thursday, taking early cues from Wall Street gains overnight, as receding worries of near-term U.S. interest rate hikes continued to buoy risk sentiment, according to Reuters.

The dollar hovered near seven-week lows versus the euro as cautious comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen earlier in the week on monetary tightening continued to resonate, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said that on the back of extended gains in Dow, Fed’s reiteration of a cautious approach in tightening coupled with Ringgit strength, the FBM KLCI near term technical landscape has mildly improved and the index is set to retest year-to-date high of 1726.6 soon, with more formidable resistance at 1744 (3 Aug high), as technical indicators are getting overbought.

“Key supports are 1678-1703,” it said.