KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was lifted on positive sentiment over highly anticipated talks between the US and China in the hope that there would be a resolution to the trade conflict.
Asia stocks were mostly higher with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 1.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi putting on nearly 1%.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 3.78 points to 1,791.36. There were 1.4 billion shares traded valued at RM1.04bil. There were 313 advancers versus 419 decliners and 390 counters unchanged.
Petronas Gas was the leading gainer on the 30-stock index, adding 46 sen to RM18.62.
Bank stocks were also rising, with Maybank putting on two sen to RM9.81, Public Bank adding four sen to RM24.45, CIMB edging one sen higher to RM5.89, Hong Leong Bank climbing eight sen to RM19.30 and RHB Bank growing one sen to RM5.08.
Maxis was up three sen to RM5.78, Digi gained three sen to RM4.66 and Axiata was unchanged at RM4.45.
In plantations, Sime Darby Plantation
edged two sen higher to RM5.19, KL Kepong put on six sen to RM24.68, PPB lost six sen to RM16.78 and IOI was unchanged at RM4.51.
Among the top gainers on Bursa, Allianz jumped 34 sen to RM 12.94, Carlsberg gained 24 sen to RM19.78 and MB World surged 16 sen to RM1.80.
High on the list of decliners, DKLS fell 13 sen to RM1.68, Country View lost 10 sen to RM1.30 and IQ Group dropped nine sen to RM1.88.
Tightening US oil markets lent a boost to prices on Tuesday despite the Sino-US trade dispute dragging on international crude contracts, Reuters reported.
WTI crude rose 23 cents to US$66.66 and Brent crude gained three cents to US$72.24.
In currencies, the ringgit gained 0.16% against the greenback at 4.094 and 0.25% against the Singapore dollar at 2.9956. It weakened 0.61% against the pound sterling at 5.2530.
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