KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of DiGi and glove makers were among the major gainers in early trade on Thursday, March 4 while Pharmaniaga fell after its manufacturing licence was revoked.

At 9.33am, the FBM KLCI rose 0.17 of a point to 1,286.27. Turnover was 93 million shares valued at RM73.3 million. There were 133 gainers, 106 losers and 135 stocks unchanged.

Hwang DBS Vickers Research said stocks on will likely continue to tread inside a tight trading range pending the emergence of fresh market catalysts.

There was none from the external front last night. Major U.S. equity indices ended virtually unchanged amid mixed data, as better job and business reports were overshadowed by the possibility of proposed new legislations hurting earnings of banks and healthcare companies.

“Investors thus will be watching this evening’s outcome of Bank Negara Malaysia’s monetary policy committee meeting for possible macro implications.

“Consensus view is divided at the moment as just slightly more than half of the economists in the pool anticipate a hike of 25 basis points in the overnight policy rate, according to one media poll,” it said.

Hwang DBS Vickers Research said technically speaking, the immediate support and resistance levels for the benchmark FBM KLCI remain at 1,280 and 1,305, respectively.

DiGi rose the most, up 30 sen to RM22.30 with 20,200 shares done. Among glove makers, Adventa rose 14 sen to RM3.52, Supermax added nine sen to RM6.26 while Kossan edged up nine sen to RM7.30.

However, Hai-O fell 10 sen to RM10.60 with 20,500 shares after the recent run-up in its share price. Pharmaniaga fell eight sen to RM4.38, CIMB lost six sen to RM13.54 and Tanjong four sen to RM17.74.