KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): The FBM KLCI remained in positive territory at mid-morning today, albeit with limited gains

At 10.03am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.38 points to 1,772.46. The index had earlier risen to 1,773.37.

The top gainers included Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd (LCT), Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, HCK Capital Group Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, SCGM Bhd and Johore Tin Bhd.

The actives included Mlabs Systems Bhd, LCY shares and warrants, JAG Bhd, PUC Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd and Kronologi Asia Bhd.

The decliners included PLB Engineering Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Hong Leong Industries Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and PPB Group Bhd.

Asian shares rallied and the dollar firmed on Tuesday after North Korea's leader signalled that he would delay plans to fire a missile near Guam, further easing tensions and prompting investors to move back into riskier assets, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2 percent, with South Korea up 0.6 percent and Australia 0.7 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief today said that in the US, investors may have digested and priced in most of the negative factors over the near term.

“Hence, stocks could see stabilising movements with the traders supporting the "buy on weakness" strategy due to short-lived knee-jerk reaction following the exchange of words between US-North Korea, contributing to further technical rebound on Wall Street.

“Sentiments on the local front are likely to remain buoyant amid the positive performance on the overnight Wall Street.

“The FBM KLCI could trade towards the 1,775-1,780 zones over the near term. Also, the stocks within the technology sector should be able to recover higher after a sharp fall last week,” it said.