KUALA LUMPUR:  Blue chips ended the morning session almost flat on April 3, with Gamuda and Proton rising in active trade, while the KL Composite Index was staying firmly above 900.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down just 0.41 point to 904.66. Turnover was 571.4 million shares valued at RM625.6 million. There were 217 gainers, 206 losers and 188 counters unchanged.

Light crude oil eased 71 cents to US$51.93 while third-month crude palm oil futures slipped RM15 to RM2,105.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.03% to 8,809.86, Shanghai’s Composite Index just 0.09% higher at 2,426.48. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.51% to 14,595.7 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 1.04% to 1,822.18.

Malaysia’s exports in February rose 3.4% to RM39.59 billion from January, underpinned on higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products but it declined 15.9% on-year.

The decline in exports on-year was narrower compared to a Bloomberg survey which was expecting a 23.5% decline.

Tanjong rose 20 sen to RM13.80, Gamuda 15 sen to RM2.38 and Proton  15 sen to RM1.83.YTL-WB added 17 sen to RM2.87.

Among plantations, UMCCA added 15 sen to RM6.25 and KL Kepong 10 sen to RM10.90. However, Far East lost 40 sen to RM5.15.

Penny stocks Astino surged 19.5 sen to 59 sen and Focal 15 sen to 30 sen.

KNM was the most active with 63.8 million shares, rising 1.5 sen to 43.5 sen. MRCB added two sen higher to 96 sen and UEM Land 2.5 sen to 80.5 sen.

LCL, which was off investors’ radar screen in recent months, rose 2.5 sen to 53 cen.

Tasek fell the most, down 47 sen to RM2.75, BAT 25 sen to RM45.75, MISC-F and SP Setia 10 sen each to RM8.45 and RM3.06.