KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's stock benchmark leapt nearly 15 points higher on Monday as investors picked up bank stocks ahead of the release of their corporate results this week.
At 12.3pm, the FBM KLCI was up 14.9 points or nearly 1% to 1,604.68, after trading within a 21-point band in the morning session.
While there was a return of buying interest in the blue chips, the lower liners remained subdued. Across the broader market, there was 492 decliners compared to 389 gainers.
The market trading volume was 1.49 billion shares valued at RM1.21bil.
Among the banking heavyweights, Maybank was up 18 sen to RM10.38, CIMB rose 14 sen to RM8.36, Hong Leong Bank jumped 28 sen to RM20.76 and RHB gained 10 sen to RM6.60.
In utilities, Tenaga Nasional rose eight sen to RM14.08 while YTL Power leapt 22 sen to RM3.12.
Leading actives were CN Asia down one sen to 6.5 sen, YTL surging 12 sen to RM1.89 and MYEG flat at 91 sen.
In key Asian market, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.37% to 38,808 and Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.24% to 3,754.
China's composite index was weighed down by fears of tariffs under the Trump administration, sliding 0.36% to 3,255, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.51% to 19,131.
