KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was slightly higher at midday amid a rise in global share prices after the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting did not reveal any surprises.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 2.17 points to 1,537.73. The overall market was negative with 508 decliners compared with 341 gainers.
Ahead of an expected earnings announcement at midday, Maybank was up one sen to RM8.97.
Public Bank gained four sen to RM4.59, CIMB rose two sen to RM4.97 and Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM21.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong slid 12 sne to RM26.18, IOI rose one sen to RM4.25 and Sime Darby Plantation
shed 10 sen to RM4.97.
Meanwhile, tech stocks climbed on the Nasdaq's relief rally overnight. MPI was up 94 sen to RM30.96, D&O gained nine sen to RM3.86 and Vitrox rose 11 sen to RM7.31.
Among actives, Serba Dinamik was up 0.5 sen to 10.5 sen, Cypark gained two sne to 40 sen an Cnergenz jumped 6.5 sen to 63.5 sen.
In major Asian markets, shares rallied on optimsim over US efforts to reign in soaring inflation.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.1%, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2% and China's composite index added 0.65%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.1% and Australia's ASX200 fell 0.5%.
