KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): The FBM KLCI rose at mid-morning today, lifted by gains at select blue chips.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.38 points to 1,851.32.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Oriental Holdings Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Can-One Bhd, WCT Holdings Bhd and Karex Bhd.

The actives included Frontken Corporation Bhd, Xinghe Holdings Bhd, Talam Transform Bhd, Nova MSC Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, Jaks Resources Bhd and Metronic Holdings Bhd.

The top losers included Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Genting Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Uzma Bhd, IOI Corporation Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd.

Asian shares edged up in early trade on Friday, on track to score weekly gains and shrugging off a languid performance on Wall Street after another set of lacklustre U.S. economic data, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added about 0.2 percent in early trade, extending a seven-year high touched in the previous session and on track for weekly gains over 1 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said following yesterday’s sharp rise, daily indicators were showing some mild reversal signals.

“However, only a decisive breakout above 1858 (1st key resistance) will sustain a resumption of uptrend.

“Failure to do so will witness the FBM KLCI resume its rangebound consolidation with near term supports at 1830 and 1820,” it said.