At 12.30pm, the key index had risen 4.99 points to 1,501.47, after a sell-off in equities yesterday on claims from the opposition party that there could be another change of government.
An extended recovery in glove stocks helped to offset the losses on the market, which was broadly negative as global markets continued to shed weight as fears intesified over a second wave of coronavirus infections and a stalled US economy recovery.
The world's leading glove maker Top Glove jumped 43 sen to RM8.45 and Hartalega
climbed 98 sen to RM15.48 as European nations including the UK and Spain announced new restrictions to curb a rising number of coronavirus infections.Smaller glove manufacturers also benefited including Kossan up 42 sen to RM12.32, Supermax jumping 39 sen to RM8.22, Comfort Gloves gaining 21 sen to RM3.81, Careplus rising 28 sen to RM3.10 and Rubberex adding 26 sen to RM5.31.
However, the positive performance of the healthcare counters proved to be the exception on Bursa Malaysia, with most stocks continuing on a correction path.
Local banks were treading water with Maybank down four sen to RM7.13, Public Bank falling four sen to RM15.60, Hong Leong Bank losing two sen to RM14.88, CIMB dropping four sen to RM3.06 and RHB sliding five sen to RM4.59.
Tenaga Nasional was down four sen to RM19.86 and Petronas Chemicals slid 12 sen to RM5.38.
Among the underperforming counters were consumer stocks including Nestle down 80 sen to RM140, Heineken sliding 68 sen to RM20.82 and Carlsbers shedding 24 sen to RM20.98.
Top actively traded stocks were Advance Synergy
down three sen to 16 sen, MNC falling 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen and Mtronic up 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen.Meanwhile, Asian markets were a sea of red on the heels of Wall Street's dismal performance that saw the Dow Jones skid 1.9%.
China's benchmark index dropped 1.5% while Hong Kong's markets fell in line by 1.8%. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.8% while Australia's ASX200 slumped 1.1% and South Korea's Kospi dove 1.9%.