KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose in the early session, although gains were capped by investor caution ahead of corporate results.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark was up 2.91 points to 1,591.59, pulled higher by heavyweights including Tenaga Nasional, PETRONAS Chemicals and Press Metal
.
The lower liners, however, remained negative with the market registering a total of 506 decliners compared to 354 gainers.
Trading turnover was 1.47 billion shares changing hands for RM1.03bil.
Among the leading gainers, Dutch Lady rose 98 sen to RM31, Heineken Malaysia climbed 54 sen to RM23.88 and Sunway Construction added 18 sen to RM4.61.
Of actives, Globetronics rose four sen to 55 sen, Permaju stayed flat at four sen and MYEG added 0.5 sen to 91.5 sen.
Asian markets found succour in chip stocks following a fresh escalation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which sent investors to safe haven assets such as gold.
Renewed optimism in Nvidia's outlook, helped to key regional indices.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.93% to 38,378 and Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.06% to 3,741.
China's composite index dropped 1% to 3,336 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.31% to 19,343.
