Market rebound struggles near 1,500

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI maintained its early lead although the rebound stalled just below the 1,500 psychological level, reflecting ongoing market caution.

At 12.30pm, the index was up 9.36 points to 1,498.24.

There were strong performances from Tenaga Nasional and the financial sector as investors picked up on oversold stocks after eight consecutive weeks of selling on the benchmark index.

Tenaga was up 14 sen to R9.30 while Maybank gained six sen to RM8.18, CIMB added eight sen to RM5.26 and Hong Leong Bank rose 30 sen to RM18.28.

Petronas Chemicals jumped 12 sen to RM8.54 while Petronas Gas was up 14 sen to RM16.60.

The general mood on the market was positive given the number of gainers on Bursa Malaysia outpacing the decliners 442 to 322.

Nevertheless, trading activity was subdued with only 1.48 billion shares traded valued at RM906.83mil.

The top actively traded counters were ATA IMS up 3.5 sen to 55 sen, Dataprep down one sen to RM1.08 and Asdion rising 1.5 sen to 14.5 sen.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday despite slew of central bank meeting scheduled for this week and forecasts of hawkish policy moves.

THe US Federal Open Committee Meeting is set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the likelihood that the central bank will announce and early end to US policy stimulus.

Japan's Nikkei was up 0.9% while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.25%.

In mainland China, the benchmark index was up 1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng followed suit with its own 1% advance.

Australia's ASX200 rose 0.6%.