KUALA LUMPUR: The local stock market kicked off the new week on June 15 on a volatile note, as investors assessed the outlook and whether to take fresh bets.

Small cap and penny property counters attracted attention, extending from June 12 on expectations of fresh news.

At 10.37am, the KL Composite Index was up 1.47 points to 1,091.62 after falling to a low of 1,088.45 and a high of 1,095.72 earlier.

Turnover was 594.22 million shares valued at RM507.6 million. The breadth of the market was steadier with 244 gainers, 263 losers and 206 counters unchanged.

Kenanga Investment Research said technically, the worst could have been seen for the markets with meaningful lows established in October last year and March this year.

It added global equity markets including KL recovered, underpinned by expectations that the worst of the crisis is over and economic recovery is imminent towards the latter part of the year. Fuelling the rally of late was further confirmation from economic data which clearly shows that things are on the mend.

 “While things look set to improve from here on, question remains as to whether economic recovery is firmly in place. And relating to that is whether markets have priced in the anticipated recovery towards the latter part of the year,” it added.

Kenanga Research said as for the first question, it was more inclined of the view that while recovery was on the way, odds were however high that it would be uneven. Risks that pockets of weakness could emerge for the global economy remain.

“As to whether markets have priced in recovery, we suspect that in the near term, a substantial part of the initial recovery could have been priced in, judging from recent market movements,” it added.

Nestle rose the most, adding 25 sen to Rm31.50 with 3,300 shares done as Nestle (M) Bhd sees a trend of increasing exports coming from Southeast Asia.

KYM surged 21 sen to RM1, extending the gains from last week after the land sale. LPI rose 20 sen to FM11.10 on expectations of a potential capital repayment.

BCHB rose 15 sen to RM9.30, Measat 12 sen to RM2.12 while poultry related counters Farm Best and LHH rose. Farm Best jumped 17.5 sen to 68 sen and LHH 16 sen to RM1.25.

Small cap and penny property stocks were actively traded.

Equine Capital added five sen to 72 sen with 30.7 million shares done. Mulpha rose 2.5 sen to 65.5 sen, Tebrau Teguh 0.5 sen higher to 98.5 sen while UEM Land added one sen to RM1.98 and MRCB unchanged at RM1.45.

BAT fell 50 sen to RM43.75, Glenealy and MAHB 12 sen each to RM3.64 and RM3.54. MAS lost 10 sen to RM3.16 and Astro eight sen to RM3.16.