KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): The FBM KLCI rose 0.49% at mid-morning and stayed firmly above the psychologically crucial 1,800-point level.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 8.85 points to 1,812.30.

Gainers led losers by 518 to 226, while 332 counters traded unchanged.

Volume was 1.51 billion shares valued at RM637.69 million.

The top gainers included Top Glove Corp Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, PMB Technology Bhd and Uchi Technologies Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Sapura Energy Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, P.A. Resources Bhd, UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, PUC Bhd and Diversified Gateway Solutions Bhd.

The decliners included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Time Dotcom Bhd, Aeon Credit Services (M) Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Caely Holdings Bhd, Taliworks Corp Bhd and MGB Bhd.

The Malaysian ringgit strengthened earlier on Friday to its highest level against the U.S. dollar since August 2016, boosted by higher oil prices, according to Reuters

The ringgit advanced about 0.2 percent to 3.998 to the dollar, breaking the psychologically significant 4 level, it said.

Elsewhere. Asian shares inched closer to their record 2007 peak on Friday as U.S. jobs data pointed to firm economic growth although the greenback was soft as the spectre of benign inflation capped domestic bond yields, said Reuters.

It said MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent in early trade, with the benchmark index in Australia and South Korea both up about 0.5 percent.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said on Wall Street, investors may maintain the trading optimism as the solid economic data and corporate tax reduction coupled with accommodative monetary policy themes are likely to stay over the near term.

“Moreover, with the stable semiconductor growth and continuation of the Brent crude oil sustaining above US$60, we opine that the Dow may visit the immediate resistance of 25.5k-26k in the short to medium term.

“Similarly, sentiments on the local bourse could stay positive, tracking the bullish performance on the regional and Dow markets.

“Although selected GLCs retraced mildly on the back of profit taking activities in the last two days, we think rotational trading interests across the board will remain buoyant driven by the short window of accumulation ahead of the anticipated GE14,” it said.