KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's benchmark stock index stayed in positive territory at midday on the back of Wall Street's overnight performance.
At 12.30pmn, the FBM KLCI was up 6.16 points to 1,497.35 while the braoder market recorded a positive breadth of 488 gainers to 404 decliners and 419 unchanged.
The trading volume was 2.92 billion shares valued at RM1.66bil.
Bank stocks were seen lifting the blue-chip index, including CIMB up four sen to RM6.01, Hong Leong Bank adding six sen to RM19.08, Maybank climbing seven sen to RM9.08 and Public Bank rising two sen to RM4.36.
PETRONAS Chemicals gained seven sen to RM6.78, Sime Darby Plantation rose four sen to RM4.45 and IHH put on six sen to RM6.03.
Among stocks that have been the target of furious selling of late, YNH Property rebounded 22 sen to 77.5 sen, Rapid Synergy surged 34 sen to RM2.29 and Jentayu Sustainables lifted 26 sen to 80.5 sen.
Leading the day's actives, Widad rose 3.5 sen to 17 sen while SCIB gained five sen to 48.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Japan's shares soared to a fresh 34-year high as the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy. The Nikkei rose 0.1% to 36,582.
In China, the composite index lost its earlier lead to dip 0.35% 2,746 despite news of a huge stimulus package to prop up the ailing equities markets.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, jumped 2.5% to 15,329 following Premier Li Qiang's calls for more support for China's beaten-down stocks.
