KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI advanced for a second day but remained firmly below the 1,700-point psychological level.
At 12.30pm, the index was up 4.17 points to 1,697.76. Trading volume was 1.32 billion shares valued at RM798.73mil. There were 403 gainers versus 305 decliners and 300 counters unchanged.
The FBM KLCI pushed higher off the 50-day simple moving average on Tuesday, signaling an improvement in sentiment, but made little progress beyond its current trading channel over the remainder of the week.
Positive earnings in the US tech sector lifted market sentiment ahead of next week's US-China trade talks, giving Asian markets a boost in Friday trading.
In China, Shanghai's Composite Index rose 0.6% while the CSI 300 Index advanced 0.9%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3% and Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.1%.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore's Straits Times Index was the best performer with a 0.8% increase.
Petronas Chemicals topped KLCI-linked counters with a nine sen gain to RM8.61. Genting followed with a 14 sen push to RM6.86.
Among the lagging counters, IHH slid eight sen to RM5.59 on news that an unidentified investor sold 60 million shares in the healthcare provider at RM5.56 each.
Most active counters on Bursa Malaysia were Bumi Armada
, unchanged at 22.5 sen, Sapura Energy, unchanged at 28 sen, and Bina Puri up one sen to 20.5 sen.
In oil markets, investors shored up prices on potential supply disruption as the US warned of sanctions on Venezuela following worsening political and social turmoil in the country.
WTI crude rose 70 cent sto US$53.83 a barrel and Brent crude jumped 69 cents to US$61.78 a barrel.
On the forex market, the ringgit gained 0.25% against the US dollar at 4.1355. It strengthened 0.4% against the pound sterling at 5.4250 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0426.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
