KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia's blue-chip index rose in the morning session as bargain-hunters entered the market despite trepidation over the onset of US trade tariffs in April.
By the lunch break, the FBM KLCI was up 2.94 points to 1,508.39, as Nestle took the lead after bouncing RM3.30 to RM67.30.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 30 sen to RM21.30 while CIMB gained six sen to RM6.91.
The overall market, however, remained in a bearish mood as the declining issuers outpaced advancers at a ratio of 2.23-to-1.
Volume of trade was 1.85 billion shares at a total transaction value of RM914.83mil.
The sentiment in regional markets remains weak given the uncertainty over global trade developments,
China's composite index was down 0.25% to 3,356 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.12% to 23,662.
Japan's N9kkei shed 0.07% to 37,650. Singapore's Straits Times bucked the trend, rising 0.15% to 3,932.
US futures, however, pointed towards a rally at the time of writing with the Dow Jones up 0.5%, the S&P500 gaining 0.6% and the Nasdaq rising 0.7%.
