KUALA LUMPUR: The year-end rally on Bursa Malaysia picked up steam headed into the lunch break, with the benchmark FBM KLCI crossing above the 1,500-point resistance.
There was an broad-based buying on the market with 436 counters in positive territory and 321 in the red.
Blue-chips also rose on window-dressing activities, leading the FBM KLCI 9.51 points higher to 1,501.14.
In terms of trading volume, there was 1.33 billion shares exchanging hands for a value of RM842.4mil.
Asian markets rose on Friday as investors turned optimistic before the end of trading in 2022, spurred on by US jobless claims data that pointed to slowing inflationary pressure.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4% to 26,193 and China's composite index gained 0.6% to 3,092. South Korea's stock exchange was closed for a national holiday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was up 0.8% to 19,903 while Australia's ASX200 was up 0.6% to 7,059.
On the blue-chip index, Public Bank was up six sen to RM4.41, CIMB gained five sen to RM5.85 and Hong Leong Bank rose 28 sen to RM20.82.
PETRONAS Chemicals climbed 18 sen to RM8.71 and Press Metal
added seven sen to RM4.94.
Nestle jumped RM2 to RM140, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 22 sen to RM22.18 and F&N added 18 sen to RM21.76.
Among top actives, Vinvest was flat at 19.5 sen, Advance Synergy added 0.5 sen to 18 sen and Top Glove was flat at 91 sen.
