KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Stocks on Bursa Malaysia climbed higher in line with regional gains.

At 9.30am on Friday, the FBM KLCI had added 0.21% or 3.20 points to 1,548.69. It opened higher at 1,546.35.

The gainers included Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd, Can-One Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, YTL Corp Bhd, LTKM Bhd, Petra Energy Bhd and Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Powerwell Holdings Bhd, Notion VTec Bhd, YTL Corp Bhd, YTL Power International Bhd and Minetech Resources Bhd.

The decliners included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Carimin Petroleum Bhd.

Apex Research said it anticipates the benchmark index to trade in positive territory, supported by a slew of stellar corporate earnings and positive sentiment from the global stock market overnight.

The research house said bargain-hunting activities may also emerge in stocks that had staged a pullback over the past two session.

“We believe the positive momentum in technology, particularly semiconductor-related counters, will extend following the surge in the Nasdaq overnight.

“Additionally, we expect oil and gas counters to attract buying interest due to the higher oil prices overnight. We remain bullish on export-related stocks, as the prolonged high interest rates in the US are likely to weaken the ringgit against the US dollar,” it said.

Bloomberg reported that Asian stocks extended gains on Friday, fuelled by the global rally in equities that had seen share markets from the US to Europe and Japan hit all-time highs.

Australian and South Korean shares opened higher, while a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks climbed over 1%. Futures for Hong Kong equities slipped, while Japanese markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday.

The bullish mood continued on Wall Street overnight, with a buoyant outlook for Nvidia Corp, the world's most valuable chipmaker, helping it surge 16% amid artificial-intelligence mania, while fresh data showed that the US, the world’s largest economy, was still going strong.