KUALA LUMPUR (March 23): The FBM KLCI eked out marginal gains at the midday break today, while penny stocks shined.

Software service players saw a boost in morning trade as Chinese online business magnate Jack Ma declared Malaysia as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s first overseas e-commerce hub.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was up 2.84 points to 1,751.14. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,753.76.

Gainers led losers by 505 to 309, while 359 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 2.77 billion shares valued at RM1.50 billion.

The top gainers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd, Enra Group Bhd, REV Asia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, Efficient E-Solutions Bhd, Salutica Bhd, George Kent (M) Bhd and Heineken Malaysia Bhd.

The actives included Efficient E-Solutions, Dataprep Holdings Bhd, Green Packet Bhd, ManagePay Systems Bhd, Cuscapi Bhd, Daya Materias Bhd and IFCA MSC Bhd.
The losers included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Amway Holdings (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Genting Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd and SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd.

Asian stocks, taking some cues from a steady Wall Street, edged up on Thursday while the path for the dollar, which crawled up from a four-month low, remained clouded by concerns about the prospects for U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-growth agenda, according to Reuters.

Sterling was steady at US$1.2483, following a decline of as much as 0.4% on Wednesday, after an attack close to Britain's Parliament left five people dead, including the attacker and a police officer, and injured 40. Police said they believed the attacker was inspired by Islamist-related terrorism, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said blue-chips took a beating during yesterday’s session, as investors opted to take profit on their holdings after the sudden overnight plunge in Wall Street.

The FBM KLCI dipped 6.37 points (0.363%) to close at 1,748.3.

“Market breadth had turned negative with 605 bears outpacing 328 bulls. On the chart, the benchmark index had  gapped down to form a ‘Dragonfly Doji’ candlestick to depict a late comeback by the bulls to recover the key index from an earlier selldown.

“Downtick displayed by the relative strength index and Stochastic are reflecting the heavy selling pressure emerging during the intraday.

“While we expect the key index to trade downside-bias within 1,740-1,750 throughout the rest of the week for now, shall the FBM KLCI be unable to hold above the 1,740 (S1) level, it could face further pressure towards 1,727 (S2) next. Overhead levels are now capped at 1,750 (R1)/1,760 (R2),” it said.