KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips traded higher in late morning trade on Wednesday after a cautious start, supported by gains in Tenaga Nasional, Sime Darby and Public Bank.
At 11.011am, the FBM KLCI was up 6.06 points or 0.39% to 1,570. Turnover was 835.91 million shares valued at RM570.05mil. Decliners led advancers 379 to 219 while 268 counters were unchanged.
Reuters reported Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as investors feared fresh rate cuts in China would not be enough stabilise its cooling economy or halt a collapse in its stock markets.
China's key share indexes attempted to move higher several times in early trade only to be slapped back by waves of selling, reflecting investors' views that much more support was needed from the government and the central bank, said the wire report.
The ringgit weakened against the greenback and the Singapore dollar to 4.2550 and 3.0307.
Despite the weaker broader market, fund buying of Tenaga shored up the KLCI. The power giant rose 46 sen to RM11 while Public Bank added 18 sen to RM17.74.
Among the plantations, Genting Plantations added 30 sen to RM9.22, heavyweight Sime Darby rose 28 sen to RM7.40 and KL Kepong gained 18 sen to RM20.52.
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