KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at the midday break today but stayed up 0.42% in line with the advance at neighbouring markets.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 7.1 points to 1,679.86. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,684.08.
Gainers led losers by 585 to 221, while 286 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.78 billion shares valued at RM1.14 billion.
The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd, Hai-O Enterprise Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.
The actives included Tatt Giap Group Bhd, My EG Services Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Sino Hua-An International Bhd, Datasonic Group Bhd and Destini Bhd.
The losers included Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Wong Engineering Corp Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd and Malaysia Pacific Industries Bhd.
Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday as further headway in US-China trade talks increased chances of the two nations striking a deal to end the long-drawn confrontation, lifting uncertainty from the market, according to Reuters.
US and Chinese officials are continuing negotiations in China for an unscheduled third day amid signs of progress on issues including purchases of US commodities and greater access to China's markets, it said.
Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI Index failed to sustain gains, falling 6.41 points or 0.38% in the previous session.
The research house said the index has been trading sideways for the past four days now, hovering just below the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA).
It said a breakthrough of this EMA, acting as the immediate resistance would likely push the index higher towards the next zone of interest, being the 1,730-1,750 level.
"Anticipate our local market to continue making grounds as sentiments are looking much more positive compared to a few weeks ago.
"For the short term, equity market has technically turned bullish — Buy quality stocks on weakness," it said.