Malaysia Hot Stocks-Market seen rangebound, Maybank eyed

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian shares are
likely to drift sideways in thin trade on Monday, with many
other markets still stuck in holiday mode, dealers said.

But Malaysia's biggest lender, Malayan Banking Bhd
(MBBM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), could be in focus after it agreed to buy 15 percent
of Vietnam's An Binh Bank for 430 million ringgit ($135
million), they added.

"The market is going to be rangebound, there is not much
action as most markets were closed on Friday," said one dealer
with a domestic brokerage.

Japanese stocks opened almost flat on Monday after a
three-day winning streak. The benchmark Nikkei .N225 was up
0.23 percent at 12,510.77 points at 0030 GMT.

In Malaysia, investors are awaiting news from this week's
Invest Malaysia conference, the country's main investor event
where policy-makers and top chief executives meet fund
managers.

Large state-linked firms such as planter Sime Darby
(SIME.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), fixed-line phone firm Telekom Malaysia (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and
state power utility Tenaga Nasional (TENA.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are due to
participate in the three-day conference, which opens on
Tuesday.

On Friday, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index
.KLSE fell 0.06 percent to 1,189.06 points. The March futures
contract KLIH8 put the index at 1,168 points and the April
index KLIJ8 put it at 1,158.5.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks jumped on optimism that giving
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a bigger role in the mortgage market
would ease a credit crunch.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 2.16 percent
to 12,361.32, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX 2.39
percent to 1,329.51 and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC 2.18
percent to 2,258.11.
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral, editing by Mark Bendeich)