KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at mid-morning today and the advance is seen limited for the benchmark index.

At 10.01am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.25 points to 1,633.78. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,635.64.

The top gainers included KESM Industries Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd and PPB Group Bhd.

The actives included Tiger Synergy Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Kanger International Bhd and Vsolar Group Bhd.

The top losers included SLP Resources Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, UEM Edgenta Bhd, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd and Lii Hen Industries Bhd.

Asian shares held steady on Friday as investors braced for U.S. payrolls data that could add to or detract from the case for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike later this month or in July, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.15 percent while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a market preview this morning said that today, the local market is likely to continue to be muted ahead of the beginning of fasting month next Monday onwards; and US economic data, which may give some clues on likelihood of US interest rate hike later in this month.

“Moreover, local sentiment is also likely to see further consolidation given expectation of lower market consensus for the KLCI year-end target due to local earnings result jitters.

“Despite the lackluster local sentiment, we are of the view that export-oriented stocks may gain strong buying momentum.

“The anticipation of higher likelihood of US interest rate hike in June is likely to translate into weaker Ringgit against USD, hence putting export-oriented stocks back in the spotlight,” it said.