KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI stayed in range in the morning session as global markets entered a wait-and-see period in the lead up to more progress on the US-China trade talks.
Chinese markets however showed a late morning push 1% higher as Beijing's planned stimulus measures helped to offset uncertainty over whether a possible summit, which could take place by the final week of this month, would see the signing of a trade pact.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 0.87 points to 1,686.49. Trading volume was 1.69 billion shares valued at RM1.09bil. There were 400 gainers versus 294 decliners and 385 counters unchanged.
Some notable gains were made on Bursa Malaysia in the morning session, including Teck Guan Perdana which hit limit up to RM1.20 on news that China was placing a large order of palm oil with the company.
MyEG was also on the rise as the most active counter on the stock exchange. The e-government solutions and services provider gained 13 sen to RM1.14 on news that the Malaysian Competition Commission had accepted the changes to its online visa renewal system for foreign workers.
Brahim's, which was classified as a PN17 status company last week, rose four sen to 15 sen on its management's assertion that it was taking steps to exit the status.
Among KLCI-linked stocks, Petronas Gas rose 24 sen to RM17.96, Axiata rose four sen to RM4.18 and MISC increased seven sen to RM6.80.
Falling behind were CIMB slipping four sen to RM5.55, IHH sliding three sen to RM5.85 and TNB dipping two sen to RM12.78.
Crude oil prices fell about 0.7% as US producers Chevron and Exxon Mobil forecast big jumps in share oil production.
US crude dropped 43 cents to US$56.13 a barrel and Brent crude fell 48 cents to US$65.38 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit was 0.3% weaker against the US dollar as US Treasury yields rose on strong economic data. The local currency was little changed against the pound sterling at 5.3740 and was down 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0127.
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