KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips rebounded in the afternoon session on Thursday, boosted by gains in DiGi, Axiata and Public Bank. The FBM KLCI fell below the psychological important 1,600 level earlier.

Selling of the KLCI-linked stocks was seen to be overdone on concerns about the general elections and ahead of the long weekend. This prompted fund buying, especially seen in DiGi and Public Bank after their financial results.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 5.43 points to 1,619.57. Turnover was 848.27 million shares valued at RM1.67bil. The broader market picked up as the number of gainers led losers 295 to 293 while 315 counters were unchanged.

Most regional markets closed lower, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling from a four year high on earnings concerns.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.93% to 11,357.07; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index losat 0.34% to 23,177.00; Shanghai's Composite Index gave up 0.66% to 2,418.53 and South Korea's Kospi 0.23% lower at 1,931.77 while Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.45% to 3,261.77. However, Taiwan's Taiex managed to eked out a gain of 0.25% to 7,906.65.

At Bursa, DiGi rebounded to close 16 sen higher at RM4.82, pushing the KLCI up 2.87 points. Axiata added eight sen to RM6.24 and gave the KLCI another 1.56 points but TM fell three sen to RM5.30 and Maxis two sen to RM6.39.

Crude palm oil for third-month futures rose RM13 to RM2,560. KL Kepong rose 14 sen to RM21.12 but Far East and UMMCA lost 10 sen each to RM7.10 and RM6.90. Also down were IOI Corp, falling seven sen to RM4.79, PPB Group six sen to RM12.10 and FGV four sen lower at RM4.50.

Genting rose 13 sen to RM9.59, Genting Malaysia and UMW six sen each to RM3.70 and RM12.26.

Among the banks, Public Bank rose 10 sen to RM15.82, HLFG and Hong Leong Bank six sen each to RM13.56 and RM14.34.

As for consumer stocks, Nestle gained 42 sen to RM59.38, GAB 14 sen to RM16.20 but Dutch Lady lost 30 sen to RM42.40 and BAT 10 sen down to RM57.80.

China Automobile Parts lost 6.5 sen to 45.5 sen with 50.32 million shares done.

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