Turnover was 1.24 billion shares valued at RM775.94 million. Gainers led losers by 431 to 164, while 212 counters traded unchanged.

Among finance counters, Maybank gained 15 sen to RM5.60, LPI Capital up 10 sen to RM10.70, RHB Cap added 6 sen to RM4.26, BCHB up 5 sen to RM9 and AMMB Holdings up 4 sen to RM3.38.

Meanwhile, Axiata rose 3 sen to RM2.39, MISC up 5 sen to RM8.55, IOI Corp and KNM Group up 2 sen each to RM4.68 and RM1.05, respectively, and Astro added 4 sen to RM3.22.

The top gainer was Measat, which surged 43 sen to RM2.17. The stock hit its 52-week as well as intra-morning high of RM2.24 on continued speculation that controlling shareholder, tycoon T Ananda Krishnan could plan for a merger involving Maxis, Astro and Measat.

Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor jumped 23 sen to RM2.01, Transmile added 24 sen to RM1.56, Asiafile rose 15 sen to RM5.20 while Berjaya Land gained 14 sen to RM3.92.

Losers this morning included Genting, MAS, Lafarge Malayan Cement, Hong Leong Bank, MAHB, Dialog and Boustead.

Genting fell 5 sen to RM5.95. Reuters reported this morning that Genting had paid US$100 million for a 3.2% stake in US casino operator MGM Mirage, citing an official from the US company on Wednesday.

The stake was offered under a US$1 billion equity placement by MGM Mirage last month, it said.

MAS fell 6 sen to RM3.22, Lafarge down 10 sen to RM5.40, Hong Leong lost 5 sen to RM5.70, MAHB and Boustead fell 4 sen each to RM3.76 and RM4.26, respectively, while Dialog shed one sen to RM1.23.

Other losers included BAT that fell 25 sen to RM43.75, Batu Kawan down 10 sen to RM8.90, General Corp down 8 sen to 99 sen while NCB lost 7 sen to RM2.72.

Compugates was the most actively traded stock this morning with 116.6 million shares done. It was unchanged at 7.5 sen. Other actively traded stocks included Nextnation, Iris, Hovid, KUB, Transmile and KNM Group.

Crude palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia derivatives exchange rose RM5 to RM2,470 per tonne for August delivery and RM25 to RM2,490 per tonne for July delivery.

Light crude oil rose 64 cents per barrel to US$70.65.

Over at regional markets, the South Korean Kospi rose 2.35% to 1,404.08, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 2.04% to 18,427.54 and Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.64% to 9,947.47.

The Singapore Straits Times Index added 0.91% to 2,371.19, Taiwan's TAIEX Index rose 0.81% to 6,466.38 and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.45% to 2,800.38.