KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's benchmark stock index pared some of the gains it made in the early morning sessions as investors took some cash off the table.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 2.51 points to 1,385.57 with 363 decliners on the broader market compared to 358 gainers.
There were 1.49 billion shares traded for a value of RM821mil.
Regional markets were higher as investors banked on upcoming US inflation data supporting an end to the Federal Reserve's rate hikes.
Japan's Nikkei was little changed at 32,188, South Korea's Kospi rose 1.3% to 2,553 and China's composite index rose 0.5% to 3,219. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.5% to 18,761.
Plantation stocks were seen picking up with Kuala Lumpur Kepong gaining 32 sen to RM23.02, IOI climbing 10 sen to RM3.87 and Sime Darby Plantation rising two sen to RM4.35.
Meanwhile PETRONAS Dagangan rose 28 sen to RM22.24, PETRONAS Chemicals gained four sen to RM6.10 and Tenaga Nasional gained two sen to RM9.05.
Among the lower liners, Pertama Digital jumped 27 sen to RM2.97, EP Manufacturing surged 22 sen to 93 sen and Hextar Technologies rose 16 sen to RM27.26.
Top actives were BSL up 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Jade Marvel rising 0.5 sen to 22.5 sen and Revenue adding 0.5 sen to 26 sen.
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