KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): The FBM KLCI looked set to close the first quarter of 2018 on a positive note as it gained some 60 points year to date at mid-morning today.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 0.54 points to 1,856.89.

Gainers led losers by 233 to 228, while 278 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 391.66 million shares valued at RM160.45 million.

The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, BIMB Holdings Bhd, Degem Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, APM Automotive Holdings Bhd, Caely Holdings Bhd and Yinson Holdings Bhd.

The actives included SKH Consortium Bhd, Red Sena Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, D.B.E. Gurney Resources Bhd, Eversendai Corp Bhd and Silver Ridge Holdings Bhd.

The decliners included Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, George Kent (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, PMB Technology Bhd, Comfort Gloves Bhd and Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd.

Most Southeast Asian financial markets are closed for holidays today.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders' brief today said despite the mild recovery on Wall Street, investors are likely to stay cautious amid the Federal Reserve's normalisation of monetary policy, coupled with the expected interest rate upcycle environment.

"Also, the intensifying uncertainty of (US) President Trump's agenda on protectionist measures may curtail the upside over the near term.

"On the local front, tracking the overnight Wall Street performance as the Dow rebounded off the SMA200 level, we may expect emergence of mild bargain-hunting activities among severely oversold small cap and lower liners and anticipate the FBM Small Cap and FBM ACE sub-indices to revisit the 15,000 and 5,500 level, respectively," it said.