KUALA LUMPUR: Bargain hunting helped most Asian stock markets to recover from yesterday’s falls to close in positive territory at midday.

On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI rose 2.84 points to 1,751.14 at midday. The benchmark index opened up 2.36 points to 1,750.66.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners by 505 to 309 while 359 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at 2.76 billion shares worth RM1.5bil.

Dealers said the local bourse rose higher on bargain hunting as investors snapped up attractive stocks which were beaten down in yesterday’s sell-off.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.07% at 19,054.30 after falling 2% yesterday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.36% at 24,406.99. Seoul’s Kospi closed 0.31% higher at 2,174.99 after sliding 0.46% yesterday.

JF Apex expects the local bourse to remain muted amid policy uncertainty in the US.

Overnight, the US equities closed mixed on Wednesday as Wall Street eagerly awaited a vote on the House’s health care proposal.

European markets ended lower amid increasing concerns regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic growth agenda and following a terrorist incident in London.

PublicInvest said the FBM KLCI might have a muted opening today after US stocks staged a tentative rally after the previous day’s sharp sell-off but the underlying mood in the markets remained distinctly risk-averse amid growing doubts about the pace of fiscal policy reform under President Trump.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research opined that the FBM KLCI was likely to stage a rebound as markets abroad stabilise.

“Despite some mild bargain hunting activities on Wall Street, we expect the technical rebound would be shortlived and may eventually retest the immediate support of 20,500 as uncertainties on Donald Trump’s policies surfaced recently.

“Meanwhile, sentiments on Bursa Malaysia might turn positive as traders are likely to look for opportunities within the fundamentally solid small cap and oversold stocks,” it added.

On Bursa Malaysia, shares of Rev Asia Bhd hit limit-up in early trade on Thursday following speculation that the company would gain from the iconic Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) that was launched yesterday.

Rev Asia was up 29.5 sen, or 36.2% to RM1.11, its 52-week high. There were 15.7 million shares done.

Starbiz reported that the company was not directly involved in the DFTZ but the link was through its parent company Catcha Group, which owns 66% of Rev Asia.

Catcha Group, which describes itself as Asia’s leading Internet group, has been made the master developer of the Kuala Lumpur Internet City (KLIC).

Selected tech-based related penny stocks counters also saw active trading after Alibaba announced its first overseas e-commerce hub in Malaysia.

Efficient E-Solutions added 23 sen to 52 sen, Dataprep rose 4.5 sen to 66.5 sen and Green Packet was 6.5 sen better at 36 sen.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM9, Public Bank rose two sen to RM19.98 and Sime Darby gained 24 sen to RM9.50.

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