KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI tacked on 0.9% in morning trading as local blue chips continued their red-hot rally amid an inflow of foreign funds, and optimism over Big Tech earnings releases in the US later this week.
The benchmark index was up 15.85 points to 1,759.92 at midday, as it continued its ascent to fresh seven-year highs on the back of heavy buying interest in local banks.
Charting fresh historical highs, Maybank jumped 12 sen to RM11.62, Hong Leong Bank gained 22 sen to RM24.72, CIMB added 14 sen to RM8.76, RHB rose 14 sen to RM8.43.
Meanwhile, Sunway leapt 16 sen amid, extending a rally as the EPF increased its stake in the company amid its takeover plan of IJM. IJM rose seven sen to RM2.80.
There was a spillover of buying sentiment on to the lower liners, with the number of advancing issues outpacing declining 649-to-445.
The trading volume was 1.97 billion shares valued at RM1.87bil.
Of actives, Capital A slipped 1.5 sen to 57.5 sen as the top of the leaderboard with 53.79 million shares done. AirAsia X
was also in the Top 10, adding one sen to RM2.20 on 30.49 million shares traded.
By sector, financial services continued its advance at a rapid clip, gaining 1.52% to a record high, while property and utilities were also leading gainers.
On the forex market, the ringgit strengthened to 3.9575 against the greenback at noon, according to Bank Negara's website.
In major Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.68% to 53,239 and South Korea's Kospi leapt 2.09% to 5,052.
China's Shanghai Composite index was little changed at 4,134 while the CSI 300 rose 0.3% to 4,720. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.08% to 27,055.
