KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): The FBM KLCI rose 0.69% at mid-morning today, tracking regional markets.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI rose 11.32 points to 1,638.76.

Gainers led losers by 480 to 174, while 267 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.11 billion shares valued at RM593.61 million.

The top gainers included Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Pentamaster Corp Bhd.

The actives included Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd, Ekovest Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd and Iris Corp Bhd.

The decliners included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, DWL Resources Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Pintaras Jaya Bhd and Petronas Gas Bhd.

Equity markets in Asia rose on Wednesday morning after upbeat earnings helped the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes reach record closing highs on Wall Street overnight, while oil retreated from its near six-month highs, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1% in early trade in Asia. The gains followed a strong performance on Wall Street, driven by robust results from Coca-Cola, Twitter, United Technologies and Lockheed Martin, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said on Dow Jones, the recent better-than-expected US corporate earnings would be able to sustain the momentum at least for the near term to retest all-time high of 26,952, given that the majority of corporate earnings reports have topped expectations.

"Overall, 1Q19 profits of S&P 500 companies are now expected to decline 1.3% against 4.2% drop at the start of the April's earnings season.

"Tracking positive Dow's closing overnight and rising oil prices, KLCI's technical rebound from 1,609 is likely to continue to recapture downtrend line barrier near 1,633.

"As the worst could be over for the construction and building materials industries following news of the revival of a few key mega projects recently, any further profit-taking pullback on Ekovest, Iskandar Waterfront City, Kimlun Corp Bhd, Advancecon Holdings Bhd, Ann Joo Resources Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia should attract investors looking for short-term rebound gains.

"Meanwhile, stronger USD index overnight could also witness some bargain-hunting activities on the resilient gloves stocks such as Top Glove Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd," it said.