KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): The main index at Bursa Malaysia pared some of its gains at the midday break today as losses in index-linked glove makers capped its advance.  

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 16.86 points to 1,628.90. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,636.37.

Gainers led losers by 571 to 204, while 728 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 4.27 billion shares valued at RM2.52 billion.

The gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, UWC Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Mi Technovation Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd and Unisem (M) Bhd.

The gainers included Metronic Global Bhd, Kanger International Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Yong Tai Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Sealink International Bhd and Vsolar Group Bhd.

The decliners included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, CI Holdings Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Far East Corp Bhd, Comfort Gloves Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd.

Reuters said Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, tracking modest Wall Street gains, as expectations that a vaccine will eventually win the battle against the coronavirus fuelled recovery hopes, while tight supply expectations pushed oil prices to a one-year high.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.45%. Chinese shares rose 0.34% while South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.04%, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said the market would stabilise and move sideways (supports 1,573-1,600) in the short term to digest a more relaxed version of MCO 2.0 and the declaration of the state of emergency to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Technically, only a strong reclaim above 1,618-1,636 (20D SMA) will lift KLCI out of the current consolidation mode to advance higher to 1,650-1,667 zones.

“Our top picks have a recovery bias (Tenaga Nasional Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, DRB-Hicom Bhd, MBM Resources Bhd and Focus Point Holdings Bhd), combined with volatility (Bursa Malaysia Bhd), defensives (Telekom Malaysia Bhd, MQREIT), value (IJM Corp Bhd, Sunway Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd) and sold down pandemic beneficiaries (Top Glove Corp Bhd),” it said.