KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia turned positive in the mid-morning session with a jump in Tenaga Nasional leading the market higher.
In regional markets, Chinese equities extended their recovery following news their weighting on the MSCI index may be increased.
The FBM KLCI rose out of the doldrums at about 10.30am in tandem with the rally on the Shanghai Composite Index as investors picked up on the positive sentiment over the latter's upgrade on the world index.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was up 2.81 points to 1,797.28. Trading volume was 1.18 billion shares valued at RM881.4mil. There were 351 gainers versus 345 decliners and 368 counters unchanged.
Tenaga Nasional climbed 38 sen to RM15.54 in the morning session, adding 3.44 points to the index.
Other gainers included CIMB, adding four sen to RM6.04, Axiata rising four sen to RM4.60 and IHH gaining four sen to RM5.29.
Decliners included Genting Malaysia sliding six sen to RM4.96, Petronas Chemicals falling six sen to RM9.35 and Sime Darby Plantation
trimming one sen to RM5.29.
In the spotlight today, VS Industry rose seven sen to RM1.69 on positive earnings results.
Other actively traded counters were Sapura Energy, sliding one sen to 43 sen and QES, adding one sen to 35 sen.
Oil benchmark Brent traded little changed on Wednesday after rising to its highest in nearly four years in the previous session.
Meanwhile, US crude futures fell as US officials tried to assure that the market would be well-supplied before sanctions are re-imposed on producer Iran.
Brent was down five cents to US$81.82 a barrel while WTI crude shed 10 cents to US$72.18 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit was weaker against key currencies ahead of the US Fed decision on interest rates.
It slipped 0.1% against the greenback to 4.1412, 0.3% against the pound sterling at 5.4548 and 0.16% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0335.
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