Asian stock markets rebounded smartly on June 25, clawing back losses from earlier in the week, even though Wall Street ended on a somewhat mixed note overnight. The relevant bellwether indices in most regional markets opened on a stronger footing and stayed in positive territory throughout the trading day.

Sentiment on the Bursa Malaysia mirrored gains in the region. The KL Composite Index opened higher, gaining traction through the morning session. Despite the emergence of some profit taking activities after the break, the KLCI stayed resilient to close 16 points higher at 1,074.1.

Market breadth too was positive throughout the day. At the close, advancers outnumbered decliners by a ratio of well over three to one. Gains were fairly broad-based.

Leading the top gainers were blue chip stocks like BAT, Tenaga Nasional, Bumiputra Commerce, Genting, YTL, Maybank, Bursa Malaysia and IJM. On the other hand, most of the top losers were very thinly traded and hence offered little insight.

A total of about 1.49 billion shares changed hands on June 25. The bulk of the market volume was from trading on lower liner stocks. Some of the most heavily traded stocks include KNM, Sino Hua-An, MK Land, Tebrau Teguh, JAKS Resources, UEM Land and Scomi.

 Global stocks have been weighed down by renewed jitters in recent days over concerns that the pace of the economic recovery may fall short of expectations. That has given investors pause and disrupted the strong upward momentum registered since early-March.

 Nonetheless, investors have been bargain hunting on any price weakness, suggesting that most remain confident that the uptrend is still intact, at least for the moment.

Investors will continue to look for fresh leads to move the markets higher. Upcoming economic data, especially out of the US, will determine the global market’s next move.