Yesterday, the breadth of the Malaysian market remained positive with more gainers than losers despite the 44-point decline as the affected counters were mainly constituents of the FBM KLCI. The positive market momentum continued with 664 gainers to 395 decliners in today's trade.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 40.76 points to 1,603.47. Trading volume for the day was up over previous sessions as local traders picked up bargain stocks amid the ongoing bullish sentiment.
Malacca Securities Research forecast the rebound on the index amid renewed volatility unfolding, while reiterating its positive outlook on the wider market.
"We think that the lower liners are poised for further upsides driven by the improved trading liquidity which may extend the rotational play," it said.
Banks, which led the sell-off on the market yesterday, bounced higher with Hong Leong Bank rising 82 sen to RM18, Public Bank gaining 54 sen to RM17.94 and Maybank climbing 32 sen to RM8.22.
Other stocks that came into demand after yesterday's fall included Petronas Chemicals adding 59 sen to RM7.01, Tenaga jumping 76 sen to RM10.84 and Axiata rising 18 sen to RM3.73.
Conversely, Top Glove maintained a positive results during yesterday's meltdown but succumbed to selling pressure today.
Amid market talk that the government was investigating the company for compliance breaches with regards to workers' housing, the glove maker dropped nine sen to RM7.02.
Sector peer Hartalega
however was up 12 sen to RM14.52.Trading was robust among the lower liners with PHB seeing 450 million shares traded. The counter rose 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen. AT Systemization
gained one sen to 21 sen with 357 million shares exchanging hands and Metronic added one sen to 12 sen with 208.9 million shares crossed.Meanwhile, Asian markets were pushing higher with Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi each rising 1.4%.
China's composite index jumped 1.3% while Australia's ASX200 gained 1%.
Over in Australia, the ASX200 was up 1%.