KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was spurred on by a rally in regional markets following Wall Street's overnight rally and general optimism that the Federal Reserve's rate hikes were over.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 3.35 points to 1,460.27.
There were 413 gainers compared to 361 decliners while trading volume was 1.98 billion shares valued at RM930.41mil.
In China, easing Sino-US tensions sent its composite index higher by 0.5% to 3,082 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1% to 17,955.
Japan's Nikkei was seen mostly flat after as investors took a breather following a strong Monday rally. The index was unchanged at 33,382.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi was up 1% to 2,516.
On Bursa Malaysia, bank stocks picked up steam again with Maybank rising two sen to RM9.13, Public Bank gaining six sen to RM4.27, CIMB adding one sen to RM5.78 and Hong Leong Bank climbing eight sen to RM19.28.
Press Metal
rose seven sen to RM4.90 and Tenaga Nasional gained three sen to RM10.
Top actives included Hong Seng unchanged at three sen, Leform down two sen to 27 sen and Widad flat at 46 sen.
