KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): The FBM KLCI ticked up at the midday break today to breach the 1,760 level, in line with uptrend at most regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI added 0.44 points to 1,760.11. The index had earlier slipped to its intra-morning low of 1,758.82.

Gainers led losers by 303 to 275, while 490 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 987.20 million shares valued at RM763.67 million.

The gainers included Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Warisan TC Holdings Bhd, Success Transformer Corp Bhd, Hai-O Enterprise Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Thong Guan Industries Bhd and Affin Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Tiger Synergy Bhd, Hubline Bhd, MLabs Systems Bhd, EA Holdings Bhd, mTouche Technology Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd and Priceworth International Bhd.

The decliners included Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Star Media Group Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, UOA Development Bhd, Denko Industrial Corp Bhd and JF Technology Bhd.

Japanese and Hong Kong share markets led Asian stocks higher on Wednesday, with the Chinese central bank's weekend move to free up more liquidity boosting sentiment as the world's second-largest economy grows at a steady pace, according to Reuters.

Across Asia this week, trade has been generally subdued and volumes thin with China and South Korea closed for week-long holidays and analysts cautioned against reading too much into index moves, it said.

CIMB Retail Research said the local key index finally staged a technical rebound yesterday after 'suffering' from the 8-to-10 consecutive black candles rules.

"Today, we might see the index stage a follow-through rebound, underpinned by the morning doji star candle pattern.

"If the rebound does occur, then look for the 30-day & 50-day Exponential Moving Average 'EMAs' to act as resistance in the near term.

"Meanwhile, we also saw reversal patterns occurring in the ACE and Small Cap indices but a confirmation is still required. Resistance: 1,770 & 1,780. Support: 1,754 & 1,743," it said.