KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI managed to bounce back after briefly dipping below the 1,600 key support on Thursday as the domestic market tracked key Asian bourses higher.
Regional markets rallied on the back of a positive Wall Street performance, relieved that a US inflation report showed the rise in consumer costs came within expectations and the Federal Reserve remains very likely to cut the lending rate at its upcoming meeting.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 2.16 points to 1,605.36 although the broader market remained negative with 460 decliners compared to 378 gainers.
The trading turnover was 2.22 billion shares valued at RM1.19bil.
On the blue-chip index, Press Metal
rose six sen to RM4.99, PETRONAS Dagangan gained 32 sen to RM20.40 and Telekom added 10 sen to RM6.62.
TMK Chemical was among the top performing and most active shares on its debut on the Main Market, rising 20 sen to RM1.94.
Meanwhile, other highly traded stocks included TWL unchanged at three sen and Zentech, also unchanged at one sen.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.33% to 39,895 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.72% to 20,501.
China's composite index gained 0.64% to 3,454. Singapore's Straits Times added 0.4% to 3,807.
