KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI bounced into positive territory at midday, erasing steep losses from earlier in the day.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 1.01 points to 1,477.97, led higher by gains in telcos and consumer giant Nestle.
However, the overall market remained negative with 446 decliners compares with 353 gainers.
Trading volume was 2.53 billion shares valued at RM1.14bil.
In telcos, Axiata was up 12 sen to RM3.21, Digi gained 12 sen to RM4 and Maxis fell two sen to RM3.89.
Nestle was up RM2.80 to RM133.20.
Tenaga Nasional gained eight sen to RM9.10.
Bank stocks however remained in the red with Maybank losing six sen to RM8.64, Public Bank falling one sen to RM4.40, CIMB shedding three sen to RM5.79, Hong Leong Bank declining four sen to RM20.84 and RHB sliding two sen to RM5.65.
Among top active counters, MMAG was down 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, MQTech was flat at five sen and Advance Synergy lost two sen to 17.5 sen.
Meanwhile, regional markets were volatile following the release of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data, which added to concerns over the country's continued Covid lockdown measures.
China's composite index was up 0.2% to 3,156, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 18,245,
In Japan, the Nikkei was down 0.4% to 27,916, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8% to 2,452 and Australia's ASX was up 0.45% to 7,285.