KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI stayed positive over the morning session, giving the domestic market a reprieve from the sustained decline over recent weeks.
While the market was playing catch-up to global markets that had rallied on the back of AI-related earnings, there was an air of caution over the day's trading following a mixed bag of results from Corporate Malaysia's first-quarter earnings coupled with geopolitical risks stemming from the Middle East.
At 12.30pm, the main market barometer was up 8.37 points to 1,691.44. The index moved within a 14-point range from 1,679.12 to 1,693.09 over the early session.
Leading gainers included Nestle, rising RM2.98 to RM93.98, Gamuda climbing 12 sen to RM4.32 and RHB Bank
adding 15 sen to RM8.36.
While the blue chips saw improved buying interest, selling pressure persisted over the broader market with declining issues outweighing advancers 621 to 468. Trading volume was 2.27 billion shares valued at RM2.28bil.
Sectors that advanced included construction, rising 1.25%, healthcare climbing 0.67%, consumer adding 0.5% and financial services, gaining 0.37%.
Plantations and property shares, meanwhile, declined 0.41% and 0.7% respectively.
Most active stocks on the market were Nationgate, slipping two sen to 86 sen, ACE Market debutant Bus Cap jumping 11.5 sen to 34.5 sen and Zetrix AI rising 0.5 sen to 81 sen.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were up with Japan's Nikkei jumping 2.91% to a fresh record high of 68,665 on the back of the AI rally.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.56% to 4,097 while the blue-chip CSI300 gained 1.55% to 4,990.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.73% to 25,600
