KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at the midday break today as a lack of fresh catalysts as well as the still opaque future of the Bandar Malaysia deal kept investors on tenterhooks.

Not even the favourable outcome of the French presidential election was good enough to lift market sentiment higher.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI gained 2.16 points to 1,764.90. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1.767.04.

Gainers led losers by 509 to 338, while 356 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 2.45 billion shares valued at RM1.11 billion.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, OldTown Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Bhd, Excel Force MSC Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd and Success Transformer Corp Bhd.

The actives included NetX Holdings Bhd, Globaltec Formation Bhd, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd, SKH Consortium Bhd, Ekovest Bhd and XOX Bhd.

The top losers included Bandar Malaysia-linked Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd and Prestariang Bhd.

The euro hit a six-month high against the US dollar on Monday while Asian shares gained and US stock futures briefly touched a record high, on investor relief after centrist Emmanuel Macron comfortably won the French presidential election, according to Reuters.

The common currency gave up gains later, with some market participants citing uncertainties on whether his new party, rebranded La Republique En Marche, can get a parliamentary majority in elections in June.

Reuters quoted analysts at BlackRock as saying: "We expect the focus to shift to French legislative elections in June. These will be crucial for determining Macron's ability to implement his economic program, which includes labour market reforms that would make it easier for French businesses to hire and fire."

Kenanga IB Research said that last week, the FBM KLCI experienced a slight technical pullback towards its 20-day SMA trend line, underpinned by the lacklustre sentiment over the lapse of the Bandar Malaysia deal.

Nonetheless, it said sentiment is likely to recover this week, underpinned by the positive close in Wall Street last Friday and stronger crude oil prices of US$49.46 per barrel.

"Chart-wise, the primary trend of the underlying index is still firmly positive as it currently stays above all its key SMA trend lines.

"While sustaining above the key 1,760 (S1) level, daily RSI and Stochastic had eased its regress and buying interest had started to pick-up again.

"All in, we opine that the FBM KLCI is likely to kick-off the week on a positive note where overhead resistances are found at 1,776 (R1)/1,800 (R2), while supports are found at 1,760 (S1)/1,743 (S2)," it said.