KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips bounced higher after spending the early morning in the red.
With most Asian markets picking up after a slow start, the FBM KLCI entered the lunch break 2.41 points higher at 1,729.8.
The index had traded within a band of 1,722.16 to 1,731.45, with trade picking up select blue chips ahead of the release of their earnings results.
The careful stockpicking failed to trickle down to the lower liners as the broader market remained negative with 550 declining shares compared with 454 advancing.
Trading volume was 1.92 billion shares changing hands for RM1.3bil.
Among the gaining sectors, telcos rose 0.5%, healthcare gained 0.21% and plantation shares added 0.1%.
Financial services fell 0.39%. with heavyweight banks on the slide, including CIMB down nine sen to RM7.86, RHB shedding four sen to RM8.61 and Ambank dropping 12 sen to RM7.23.
Of actives, JAKS Resources rose 1.5 sen to 12 sen, Zetrix AI slid one sen to 71 sen and Dnex rose 0.5 sen to 51 sen.
Among Asian stock indices, South Korea's Kospi gained 2.42% to 6,977 and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.24% to 68,877.
China's Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.84% to 3,959, the CSI300 added 1.1% to 4,717 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.64% to 25,528.
