KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI bounced higher on Friday after a slow start as banks and telcos gained ground headed into midday.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 6.71 points to 1,450.93. The market breadth however was negative with 410 decliners compared with 233 gainers.
Trading volume was a low 838.52 million shares valued at RM555.87mil.
In financial services, Maybank was up two sen to RM8.61, Public Bank rose four sne to RM4.41, CIMB gained nine sen to RM5.05 and Hong Leong Bank lost 12 sne to RM20.34.
Digi led telcos higher with a 16 sen jump to RM3.66 while Axiata added one sen to RM2.84 and Maxis rose four sen to RM3.88.
Petronas Chemicals meanwhile climbed 11 sen to RM9.11.
Of actives, Yong Tai was flat at nine sen, Cypark rose one sen to 35.5 sen and Jade Marvel was unchanged at 91 sen.
Major Asian margets remained in the red with Japan's Nikkei dropping 1.8% to 25,916, South Korea's Kospi falling 1.1% to 2,306 and China's composite index sliding 0.2%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.6% while Australia's AS200 rose 0.1%.
