KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose in the early session amid ongoing turmoil in regional regions as worries intensified over an escalating US tariffs war with China eased.
Asian stocks in Tuesday were mostly lower ahead of US-China trade talks, as observers cast doubts over whether the two sides could navigate a course through the impasse.
At 12.30pm, Malaysia main stock index was up 4.58 points to 1,619.87, outpacing key regional benchmarks.
By sector, financial services led gains, followed by plantations and telcos. Healthcare was the day's biggest loser.
The number of declining issues slightly outnumbered advancers 457-to-445. Volume was 1.8 billion shares trading for RM1.75bil.
The most actively traded counter was Genting Malaysia, which leapt 19 sen to RM2.33 on the back of 193.92 million shares dones, following Genting Group's plan to privatise the company with a RM2.35 per share takeover offer.
Genting was up 14 sen to RM3.
Meanwhile, other leading active stocks included NexG down 3.5 sen to 46.5 sen, Tanco up one sen to 86 sen and Top Glove falling one sen to 69.5 sen.
Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei led losses in Asia after faling 3% to 46,667.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.21% to 3,897 while the CSI300 was unchanged at 4,590.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.19% to 25,839.
In South Korea, the Kospi shed 1.28% to 3,538.
