In Malaysia, bank stocks led the FBM KLCI on its bullish trajectory with another 12.14-points gain to 1,519.83 over the morning session.
The improved optismim over the global outlook put bank stocks on the advance with Public Bank jumping RM1.04 to RM16.68, Hong Leong Bank adding 90 sen to RM14.90, Maybank adding 31 sen to RM7.82, CIMB gaining nine sen to RM3.77 and RHB rising 27 sen to RM4.23.
Barring a mid-morning selloff, from which it promptly recovered, the local benchmark index pursued further gains on the back of a strengthening ringgit and stronger oil prices.
Brent crude was seen hitting US$40 for the first time since March as major producers are expected to extend production cuts while demand recovers. Brent crude was up 45 centw sto US$40.02 a barrel while US crude jumped 70 cents to US$37.53 a barrel.
The ringgit meanwhile rose 0.35% against the US dollar to 4.2570, 0.1% against the pound sterling to 5.3549 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar to 3.0468.
As at the mid-day break, the local bourse looked primed to set yet another high for daily volume as it ratched up 6.37 billion shares for a value of RM4.14bil.
Oil and gas stocks topped the top three sport on the actives list, led by Hibiscus with 3.12 million shares traded.
The counter ended the early session flat, however, at 68.5 sen. Bumi Armada
was also flat at 25.5 sen as was Velesto at 17.5 sen.Rubber glove counters meanwhile dealt with profit-taking after a frenzied rally. Hartalega dropped RM1.52 to RM11.22, Top Glove shed RM1.18 to RM13.62, Comfort Gloves fell 63 sen to RM3.12, Rubberex lost 72 sen to RM3.08 and Supermax slid 50 sen to RM7.11.