KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's stock benchmark ended a volatile early session with a slight gain amid uncertainty over the outlook on the US economy.
However, buoyed by rising US futures and positive Asian markets, the FBM KLCI was up 2.21 points to 1,662.8 as the market paused for the lunch break.
There was a clearer sign of optimism among the lower liners as the broader market registered 711 gainers as compared to 334 decliners.
The share turnover was 2.36 billion valued at RM1.71bil.
The broader market sectors were also mostly positive, although financial services stepped back on the prospect of a lower interest rate environment and healthcare shares retreated following their recent run-up.
Blue chips embarking on a strong rally included Sunway climbing 21 sen to RM4.35, Maxis rising seven sen to RM3.96, YTL Power adding 12 sen to RM3.65 and Press Metal
gaining eight sen to RM4.93.
Among leading actives, Solar District Cooling was up 13.5 sen to 51.5 sen on its market debut, while Globetronics soared eight sen to 61.5 sen and Genetec jumped 14 sen to 96 sen.
In key regional markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 2.52% to 37,296, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.18% to 17,978 and China's composite index added 0.59% to 2,733.
Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.72% to 3,618.
