KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): The FBM KLCI closed marginally lower to end the holiday-shortened week at 1,807.65 points, down 2.55 points or 0.14% amid some mild profit taking.

The slow down on the global bond rout helped to aid the market sentiment.

For the week, however, the benchmark index declined 10.62 points or 0.58% against previous week’s closing of 1,818.27 on April 30.

Across the board, some 1.52 billion shares valued at RM1.94 billion were traded. Market breadth was positive, with 461 gainers against 316 decliners, while 324 counters were unchanged.

A remisier said the KLCI has rebounded today, after the index has fallen for two straight days.

“The FBM KLCI rebounded today supported by some bargain hunting activity, coupled with the stronger overnight close by US markets and gains in regional markets,” said the remisier.

But he added that there is still no clear catalyst for the local market and said the benchmark index may still be rangebound in the near term.

Leading the gainers were CI Holdings Bhd, Sam Engineering Bhd and Oriental Food Industries Bhd, while decliners were topped by Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd. Kanger Bhd and its warrant KANGER-WA led the top most active list.

Across the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.45%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.05%.

According to Reuters, Asian shares rebounded from one-month lows on Friday, helped by signs global bond markets were stabilizing after a big selloff, though investors were vigilant ahead of US jobs data and crunch talks between Greece and its creditors at the weekend.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan increased 0.4%.