KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI edged above the 1,500 psychological level as strong bullish sentiment come into the market amid expectations that inflation pressures were tapering.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 9.03 points to 1,501.36. There were 517 gainers on the market compared with 234.
Trading volume was 1.46 billion shares valued at RM934.15mil.
Most blue chips on the market moved higher with bank stocks rising in unison. Maybank gained four sen to RM8.94, Public Bank rose two sen to RM4.65, CIMB jumped seven sen to RM5.37 and Hong Leong Bank added 18 sen to RM20.88.
Technology counters rallied led by MPI gaining RM1.48 to RM32.30, Vitrox rising 31 sen to RM7.53 and Greatech climbing 14 sen to RM3.92.
Of actives G3 was flat at 3.5 sen, SFP Tech climbed 12 sen to RM1.06 and Fintec was unchanged at one sen.
Regionally, equities tracked Wall Street higher encouraged investors to bet on less aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
South Korea's Kospi rose 1.35% to 2,514 and China's composite index gained 1.2% to 3,268.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.8% to 19,959 and Australia's ASX200 was up 0.9%.
Japan's stock exchange was closed for a national holiday.
