KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI held fast above the 50-day simple moving average as it rebounded slightly in Tuesday trading amid generally positive sentiment over central bank rate cuts.
Monetary easing has been an active theme in the equity markets over recent weeks and, having been priced in, is lending a consolidation effect as investors await expected cuts by the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve.
Major Asian indices were mostly higher,including the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index up 0.1%, Japan's Nikkei Index up 1.2% and South Korea's Kospi Index up 0.5%.
China's blue chip CSI300 Index was 0.1% lower.
At 12.30pm, the Kuala Lumpur benchmark index rose 1.51 points to 1,656.91. Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares valued at RM834.18mil.
There was a slightly positive market breadth on the stock exchange with 349 gainers versus 302 decliners and 403 counters unchanged.
Among the actively traded counters, Green Packet continued to put on weight, adding two sen to 52.5 sen.
Eforce rose seven sen to 72.5 sen and KNM addded 0.5 sen to 37 sen.
Notable gainers on the market included Pentamaster jumping 21 sen to RM3.71, LTKM climbing 19 sen t RM1.33 and MBMR rising 15 sen to RM3.11.
Heading the list of declining counters were Nestle dropping 10 sen to RM147.90, JMR shedding nine sen to RM1.06 and MPI sliding nine sen to RM9.23.
Oil prices were slightly higher amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East although gains were mitigated by concerns over slowing global demand.
US crude rose six cents to US$56.38 a barrel and Brent crude climbed 12 cents to US$63.38 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit was 0.1% weaker against the greenback at 4.1182 and the pound sterling at 5.1300. It rose 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0201.
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