KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia tracked the positive overnight performance on Wall Street although concerns over US debt ceiling negotiations continued.
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Markets around the region have stayed firm despite the release of weaker-than-expected Chinese industrial data. Observers say the government is expected to provide support to prop up the economic recovery.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 7.42 points to 1,424.79, as investors attempted to reclaim some of the losses made over the previous five trading sessions. The broader market was positive with 374 gainers compared with 303 decliners.
Trading volume was 1.42 billion shares valued at RM703.51mil.
China’s composite index was little changed at 3,311 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4% to 20,049.
In Japan, the Nikkei gained 0.9% to 29,875 and in South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.1% to 2,482.
Blue chips on Bursa Malaysia were mostly higher, with Tenaga Nasional leading the index after jumping 18 sen to RM9.70, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbing 62 sen to RM22.84.
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Bank stocks also gained, lead by Public Bank rising four sen to RM3.98, CIMB adding three sen to RM5.01 and Maybank gaining one sen to RM8.70.
Hong Leong Bank meanwhile was down six sen to RM19.92.
AirAsia X surged 12 sen to RM1.69 following news it had received another extension to the deadline for its regularisation plan while other notable gainers included Time dotcom rising 10 sen to RM5.20.
DNeX was the top traded counter in morning trade, gaining four sen to 46.5 sen on the back of 92.15 million shares exchanging hands.
It was followed by Vinvest down 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen and Fitters unchanged at five sen. – The Star