KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared losses to a 0.5% decline as investors picked up oversold stocks ahead of the weekend.
After falling nearly 30 points earlier in the day, the benchmark index retraced losses to a 7.73-point deficit at 1,455.40.
The ratio of declining issues to advancers was 1.3-to-1. Volume was 1.7 billion shares transacting for a total of RM1.15bil.
The rise off the bottom came in line with a gradual incline in China's markets, which had started the day deeply in the red before rising into positive territory in late-morning trade.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 0.56% to 20,798
while the Shanghai composite index gained 0.12% to 3,227, as state firms stepped in to support prices.
Other developed markets in Asia fared worse, including Singapore, which lost 2.11% to 3,502 and Japan's Nikkei dropping 3.93% to 33,249.
On Bursa Malaysia only five of the 13 sectors were negative, with the heaviest losses recorded in financial services.
Leading banks such as CIMB dropped 25 sen to RM6.66, Maybank fell 15 sen to RM9.84, RHB dropped six sen to RM6.40 and Hong Leong Bank slid 24 sen to RM19.02.
Top actives on the market were MYEG up 5.5 sen to 89 sen, SumiSaujana climbing 1.5 sen to 20.5 sne and Trive flat at 3.5 sen.
