KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia stayed firmly above the 1,600-point mark at midday, driven by a broad-based rally, with construction stocks in focus.
The FBM KLCI rose 9.14 points, or 0.57% to 1,607.10 after rising to an intra-morning high of 1,607.82.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 695 to 358, while 449 counters traded unchanged. Turnover amounted to 3.2 billion units worth RM1.92bil.
The Construction Index of Bursa Malaysia rose 9.11 points, or 3.34% to 281.73.
Gamuda, the largest listed construction company, gained 30 sen, or 4.48% to RM7 while Sunway Construction rose 15 sen or 3.75% to RM4.15.
IJM Corp gained 10 sen to RM3.40, Muhibbah Engineering added 2.5 sen to 99 sen and WCT rose 11 sen to RM11.
ACE Market debutant, Go Hub surged 175.71%, or 61.5 sen to 96.5 sen with 121.9 million shares traded. It is currently the most active and second top gainer on Bursa Malaysia.
Among the decliners, Nestle slid 30 sen to RM122.10, Allianz fell 18 sen to RM22.20, Hong Leong Bank declined 14 sen to RM19.22 and United Plantations gave up 12 sen to RM24.78.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell reinforced expectations that U.S. rate cuts were not far off.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.26% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.49%, stalking the record high touched in March.
Chinese stocks fell in early trading, with the blue-chip CSI 300 index down 0.27%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.3% higher.
