KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia benchmark stock index ended the early session nearly unchanged while key regional markets rallied on news that US-Canada trade talks were making headway.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up a marginal 0.07 points to 1,528.33 after having lost a 10-point lead earlier in the day.
The declining issues on the market slightly edged out advancing 414 to 398. Volume was 2.16 billion shares changing hands for RM1.05bil.
On the FBM KLCI, there was a slump in bank stocks, which erased the morning gains. Hong Leong Bank dropped 26 sen to RM19.52, and Maybank shaved seven sen to RM9.74.
Gamuda, meanwhile, jumped 11 sen to RM4.76 on optimism over its prospects while Tenaga Nasional gained 14 sen to RM14.40.
Outperformers of the day included SAM Engineering rising 19 sen to RM4.15, British American Tobacco
gaining 13 sen to MR4.56 and Pentamaster climbing 12 sen to RM3.15.
Stock markets in Asia were mostly optimistic as Canada had announced it had withdrawn its digital services tax to pave the way for smoother trade negotiations with the US.
Japan's Nikkei rose 1.47% to 40,471, China's composite index gained 0.2% to 3,431 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.42% to 24,182.
