KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): The FBM KLCI rose 0.68% to above the 1,600-point level at mid-morning today, lifted by index heavyweights including Public Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI rose 10.95 points to 1,608.71.

Gainers led losers by 339 to 193, while 314 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 870.36 million shares valued at RM340.39 million.

The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Public Bank, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Maxis Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Digi.Com Bhd, Tenaga and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd.

The actives included Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, Rimbunan Sawit Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd, TDM Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd and Kronologi Asia Bhd.

The decliners included Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Malayan Cement Bhd, Ideal United Bintang International Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Far East Holdings Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd and Hengyuan Refining Co Bhd.

Reuters reported Asian shares rebounded on Tuesday as a day passed without a new escalation in the Middle East and Wall Street erased early losses to end in the black as tech stocks climbed.

Oil surrendered some hefty gains as many doubted Iran would strike back in a way that would disrupt supplies, and its own crude exports, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said in the US, market participants will be focusing on the trade front and putting aside the rising US-Iran geopolitical tensions as investors may believe that the fresh tensions in the Middle East could be insufficient to derail the economy and the current solid positive rally in stocks on Wall Street.

"The Dow's trading range will be located around 28,000-29,000.

"Given the rebound on Wall Street, we believe the FBM KLCI could perform a technical rebound amid bargain-hunting activities.

"However, with the mixed technical readings on FBM KLCI, we opine that the key could stay range bound between 1,580-1,620.

"Meanwhile, with the recent firmer crude oil and gold prices, we think traders would look into O&G and safe-haven related stocks amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions," it said.