FBM KLCI up at noon, buoyed by selected buying

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the morning session higher, as
investors took regional cue, with buying seen on selected blue chips.
At
12.30pm, the local bourse climbed 7.59 points or 0.43% to 1,783.75
after opening up 1.58 points in early trade on Wednesday. It went as
high as 10.25 points up during the session.
There were 518 gainers, 242 losers and 294 unchanged counters, with 1.416 billion shares traded valued at RM1.295 billion.
The local barometer was buoyed by gains in heavyweights namely, Axiata which gained 13 sen to RM6.82, PetGas up 30 sen to RM21.42, Tenaga rose 8 sen to RM8.53 and CIMB climbed 4 sen to RM8.52.
Gains
were underpinned by strong economic data driving stocks to record highs
in the US, while investors await for more indication from the Federal
Reserve on reduced monetary stimulus in the future.
Regionally,
key markets pared some of its substantial gains chalked up in the
morning, with the Nikkei 225 still clawing on some gains amid a
volatile market.
Among actives Scomi gained 1 sen to 43 sen, TH Heavy was flat at 84.5 sen and KNM gained 1.5 sen to 60 sen.
Top gainers, AEON gained RM1.16 sen to RM18, Scientex rose 26 sen to RM4.81, UMW up 22 sen to RM14.48 and Kossan increased 20 sen to RM4.33.
Losers,
Dutch Lady down 50 sen to RM48, DKSH declined 10 sen to RM5.3, PetDag
shed 18 sen to RM24.86 and Huayang decreased 8 sen to RM3.14.
Regional
markets were mixed with Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.77% to 14,421.52, Hong
Kong's Hang Seng Index down 0.68% to 22,767.35, Shanghai's Composite
Index inched up 0.36% to 2,329.52.
Taiwan's Taiex was 0.89%
higher at 8,336.79, South Korea's Kospi up 0.94% to 2004.8, and
Singapore's Straits Times Index declined 0.03% to 3,405.10.
US light crude oil was down 26 cents to US$94.75, while Brent inched down 14 cent to US$104.09.
Spot gold was down US$6.07 to US$1,387.30, while the Ringgit weakened against the greenback to 3.0550.