KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market made a guarded advance on the heels of Wall Street's positive performance as news of trade talks next week and strong corporate earnings helped to lift the gloom.
Hopes for an end to the US-China trade conflict rose following the White House's announcement it is preparing for an end-July visit to Beijing to restart trade talks.
The FBM KLCI closed out the morning session 1.23 points higher at 1,656.90, eking out yet another slight gain as it holds above the 50-day simple moving average.
"From here, resistances can be found at 1,700 (R1). A break above should see the index trend higher towards 1,730 (R2). Conversely, downside supports can be identified at 1,630 (S1) and 1,600 (S2)," said Kenanga research in its daily outlook.
Trading volume for Wednesday's morning session picked up to its highest so far this week at 1.93 billion shares valued at RM1.03bil. Market breadth was positive with 390 gainers, 342 decliners and 404 counters unchanged.
Genting counters experienced a surge of buying interest with Genting Malaysia rising to its highest in nearly eight months.
The stock was up 19 sen to RM3.64 while Genting climbed 20 sen to RM6.83, marking a one-month high.
Meanwhile Hong Leong Bank and Public Bank were among the KLCI's top laggards, losing eight sen each to RM18.24 and RM22.72 respectively.
Most actively traded stocks on the stock exchange were KNM jumping 3.5 sen to 40 sen, Priceworth shedding 0.5 sen to 6.5 sen and NetX unchanged at 1.5 sen.
Regional equities were also most on the rise, giving key indices a lift. The Shanghai Composite Index and CSI300 INdex each rose 1% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.9%, Japan's Nikkei Index added 0.45% and South Korea's Kospi Index dropped 0.3%.
In commodities, oil prices rose as tensions in the Middle East continued to bubble. US crude rose 19 cents to US$56.96 a barrel and Brent crude gained 16 cents to US$63.99 a barrel.
The ringgit was mostly flat against the a basket of currencies. It traded unchanged against the greenback at 4.1202 and the Singapore dollar at 3.0154. It was 0.1% lower against the pound sterling at 5.1225.
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