KUALA LUMPUR: There was a bounce on the domestic market on Monday following the sharp decline recorded last Friday as the FBM KLCI ended an eighth consecutive week of selling.

       At 9.25am, the FBM KLCI was up 7.57 points to 1,496.45, staying just below the 1,500 psychological resistance.

       Kenanga Research noted in its weekly technical note that there was sporadic buying interest on the local bourse in recent days as gainers on the market outnumbered decliners in three of the five trading days.

       Howeever, it added that new flow could interrupt this buying momentum over the coming week.

       "Overseas, the US Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday to deliberate on its monetary policy, possibly revealing key takeaways on the timing of its tapering of bond-purchase program and future interest rate hikes," it said.

       Meanwhile, there could also be some investor interest spurred by a new listing on the Main Market by Aurelius Technologies as well as the addition of Inari Amertron as a constituent of the FBM KLCI effective Dec 20.

       From a technical view, the research house said the FBM KLCI will probably show an upside bias after bouncing off a trough of 1,483.

       "This may then set the stage for the formation of a double-bottom pattern, possibly paving the way for a gradual recovery.

       "On the chart, a continuation of the technical rebound could push the benchmark index to attempt to clear our first resistance barrier of 1,510 (R1) going forward.

       "On the other hand, its near-term downside risk is expected to be cushioned by our immediate support threshold of 1,475," it said.

       On the FBM KLCI, most counters were positive after bouncing back from the previous week's sell-off.

       Strong performances were seen in Tenaga Nasional up 14 sen to RM9.30 and Petronas Chemicals rising 17 sen to RM8.59.

       Meanwhile, bank stocks were also on the advance with Maybank gaining six sen to RM8.18, CIMB climbing seven sen to MR5.25, Public Bank inching one sen higher to RM4 and Hong Leong Bank adding two sen to RM18.

       On the broader market, there were 251 gainers to 174 decliners. Top actives were Dataprep down three sen to RM1.06, Asdion up two sen to 15 sen and Impiana rising 0.5 sen to 9.5 sen.