KLSE upturn seen for the second half

The KLSE has performed pretty much up to expectations in the past few weeks and although it is still a laggard compared to almost all the other regional markets, is up some 6% for the year to date. What is the outlook for the rest of 2003, now that most of the major uncertainties, both local and international, seem to have cleared. Starbiz chaired by senior editor (corporate) David Chow, organised a roundtable discussion by panellists comprising Surf88.Com.Sdn Bhd chairman Lee Siang Chin, Mayban Investment Management Sdn Bhd CEO and director Amin Rafie Othman, CIMB head of equity markets and derivatives Kok Kong Chin , AmResearch Sdn Bhd executive director Gan Kim Khoon and KAF Research Sdn Bhd director Lucy Ng. The first part of their discussions are presented below.  

STAR: The KLSE's performance during the last one and a half months has been pretty good. Since May 2, when the CI was hovering around 630 points, it has gained nearly 50 points. There were some obvious factors for it, but was the degree of recovery expected?