KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI eked out a slight gain at midday after persisting volatility saw the index spend most of the morning session in negative territory.
At 12.3pm, Malaysia's stock benchmark was up 0.86 points to 1,538.99, with the broader market underpinned by 430 decliners compared to 408 gainers and 502 unchanged.
The market turnover was 2.75 billion shares crossing hands for RM1.25bil.
Pending more clarity on global interest rates, the FBM KLCI has been in consolidation mode as it hovers near the 1,540 level.
The financial services sector weighed on the index with a mixed performance among the leading banks. Hong Leong Bank rose 14 sen to RM19.22 and AmBank gained three sen to RM4.05 while Maybank sank five sen to RM9.57 and RHB lost two sen to RM5.61.
Similarly, the telcos and media sector was negative. Among the leading shares, CelcomDigi rose four sen to RM4.28, Maxis climbed five sen to RM3.59 and Axiata lost two sen to RM2.78.
Plantation players gained over the course of the morning, with rising crude palm oil prices boosting prospects. Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 10 sen to RM21.92, Sime Darby Plantation
added four sen to RM4.37 and IOI gained three sen to RM3.96.
Of actives, Hong Seng was flat at 1.5 sen, Eversendai rose 0.5 sen to 39.5 sen and TWL was unchanged at 3.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Asian markets was mostly flat ahead of more US economic data to direct investor sentiment.
Japan's Nikkei was flat at 38,706 as was China's Composite Index at 3,044.
China's blue-chip CSI300 was down 0.1% to 3,570 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.6% to 16,984.
