KUALA LUMPUR (March 15): The FBM KLCI reversed its losses at mid-morning and edged marginally higher, tracking regional markets.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI added 0.74 points to 1,675.26. The index had earlier slipped to a low of 1,672.60.

Losers edged gainers by 250 to 245, while 287 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.10 billion shares valued at RM355.64 million.

The gainers included United Plantations Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Industries Bhd, Berjaya Food Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, Can-One Bhd, Uzma Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Tasek Corp Bhd.

The actives included Priceworth International Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd, Sino Hua-An International Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Teknologi Bhd and Orion IXL Bhd.

The decliners included Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Time Dotcom Bhd, Teck Guan Perdana Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd.

Asian stocks made modest gains on Friday, tracking improved global sentiment after UK lawmakers voted to delay Brexit and as a weaker yen supported Japanese shares, but a fresh flare up in U.S.-China trade concerns is expected to cap gains, according to Reuters.

MSCI broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.06 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said in the US, it will be headlines-driven market for now as market participants will be focusing on trade developments between the US and China, especially the upcoming Trump-Kim summit that was expected to be held over the next two months.

“Should there be any negative surprises in the trade agreement, sentiment on the market could be dampen and is likely to end the recent strong recovery in major indexes on Wall Street.

“On the local front, we still believe that the small caps and lower liners are in focus as compared to heavyweights on the back of heavy trading volumes over the past few days.

“Also, the 5-day cumulative foreign trade flow is still negative (outflow of 666m), which may put pressure the heavyweights over the near term.

“Traders may look into O&G stocks on the back of firmer crude oil prices and severely oversold construction stocks for trading opportunities,” it said.