Sentiment on the local bourse stayed on a fairly firm footing Wednesday. Market breadth was positive for the better part of the day although gains were mostly limited.

The headline index, the FBM KLCI opened higher, likely bolstered by Wall Street’s overnight gains, but soon slipped into the red. The benchmark index then fluctuated within a tight range between positive and negative territories for much of the day before moving higher again towards the close. It eventually closed three points higher at 1,267.2.

There were more than two gaining counters for every losing one at the close. Some of the big gainers for the day include glove makers such as Supermax, Top Glove, Adventa and Latexx Partners. Other notable gainers were Nestle, DiGi, BAT, PPB and MISC.

At the other end, EON Capital and Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia were among the bigger losers for the day. About 865 million shares changed hands. Some of the most actively traded counters include Talam, MEMS Technology, IRCB, Meda Inc and Asian Pac Holdings.

Key Asian markets, on the other hand, traded much stronger. The bellwether indices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore added between 1.6% and 2.4% while the Taiwanese and Korean markets closed 1.6% and 1.2% higher, respectively. The Nikkei index was up a more modest 0.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 230-point gain over the past two days has given investors renewed confidence, which was also bolstered by reports that the number of pending existing home sales rose in December 2009.

Indeed, more upbeat economic data in the last few days have investors feeling comfortable enough to pick up stocks that have corrected during the sell off in January.

Among the more important data due out later this week is the US employment report. High unemployment is a key factor in the sustainability of the economic recovery.