"The rebound on Wall Street overnight, coupled with the relaxation of the MCO to allow all businesses to operate until 10pm may contribute to some positive impact to the market, albeit rising Covid-19 cases may still dampen the economic recovery," said Malacca Securities Research.
The research house said the FBM KLCI has found found some stability above the 120-day exponential moving average with resistance at 1,600-1,610 and support at 1,550-1,560.
At 12.30pm, the key index was up 12.29 points to 1,578.69.
Leading gainers on the FBM KLCI were Petronas Chemicals up 21 sen to RM6.92, Maybank rising 10 sen to RM7.91, Top Glove adding 18 sen to RM6.92 and Hartalega
climbing 34 sen to RM13.20.While most index-linked counters were positive, the lower liners were seen dipping, leading to a negative market breadth of 539 decliners to 528 gainers.
Top actives on the market were Iris down 3.5 sen to 40 sen, Trive up seven sen to 23 sen and PA rising 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen.
On the regional scene, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9% and South Korea's Kospi gained 1.7%.
China's composite index climbed 0.5% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.8% and Australia's ASX200 gained 1.45%.