KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose into the green in morning trade as it continued to see-saw between dips and gains over the course of the week.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index gained 5.99 points to 1,679.07.
The KLCI has entered a sideways trading channel, moving beneath the 50-day simple moving average as investors await more progress on a US-China trade resolution, which may come during a scheduled meeting at the end of the month.
Trading volume on Bursa Malaysia was 1.32 billion shares valued at RM923.7mil. There were 415 advancers versus 270 decliners and 355 counters unchanged.
On the regional front, markets were mostly higher at midday as Chinese measures to boost liquidity in the system lifted investor sentiment that more was being done to offset the slowing economy.
However, news that Washington was considering a ban on the sale of US chips and components to Huawei and other Chinese telco that violated US sanction laws kept a cap on the advance as investors feared that it would draw the ire of Beijing.
Stocks on Bursa Malaysia that saw active trading were Sapura Energy
, slipping 0.5 sen to 28.5 sen; Bumi Armada gaining one sen to 16.5 sen; and MyEG rising three sen to RM1.11.
In the gaming sector, Genting jumped 21 sen to RM6.63 amid its legal tussle with Wynn Resorts while Genting Malaysia gained three sen to RM3.31.
Other active movers on the KLCI included Press Metal rising five sen to RM4.45, Petronas Dagangan lifting 20 sen to RM25 and Petronas Chemicals gaining seven sen to RM8.35.
Oil prices slipped on Thursday as US produciton of the commodity arrived at a record 12 million barrels per day. US crude lost 34 cents to US$51.97 a barrel while Brent crude dropped 31 cents to US$61.01 a barrel.
On the forex market, the local currency was 0.15% weaker against the greenback at 4.1150. It slipped 0.2% against the pound sterling at 5.2959 and rose marginally against the Singapore dollar at 3.0325.
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