The KLCI added 0.26% or 2.65 points to 1,038.21. Turnover was 628.16 million shares valued at RM641.94 million. Losers beat gainers 309 to 190, while 201 counters traded unchanged.

Tenaga and PPB rose 20 sen each to RM7.60 and RM11.30 respectively, while Genting and Boustead Holdings added 18 sen each to RM5.10 and RM4.06, respectively. Hong Leong Financial Group gained 25 sen to RM5.55.

Boustead Heavy Industries Corp rose 16 sen to RM4.28, YTL Cement up 14 sen to RM3.50 while MTD and Asiatic added 10 sen each to RM1.90 and RM5.55, respectively.

KLK and Top Glove were among the major losers and fell 20 sen each to RM12 and RM5.90, respectively, while Genetec lost 18 sen to 17 sen.

Bintulu Port, Shell, DiGi and Maybank lost 10 sen each to RM6, RM10.30, RM22.40 and RM5.10, respectively, while MPI fell 9 sen to RM4.96.

KNM Group was the most actively traded stock this morning with 43.2 million shares done. It fell one sen to 77 sen.

Other actively traded stocks included Saag, Resorts, Talam, Scomi and Tebrau Teguh.

Over at the regional markets, the Taiwan TAIEX Index gained 0.38% to 6,744.11.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.06% to 16,844.42, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.51% to 9,216.61, Singapore's Straits Times Index was down 0.45% to 2,201.03, the South Korean Kospi slipped 0.22% to 1,418.56 and the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.15% to 2,606.73.

Crude palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia's derivatives market rose RM15 per tonne to RM2,540 for July delivery and up RM10 per tonne to RM2,605 for June delivery.

Light crude oil rose 53 cents per barrel to US$61.58 in electronic trading as at 1.10pm May 22.