KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 28): The FBM KLCI rose 0.61% at the midday break today, lifted by select blue chips, bucking the trend at most regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose 10.16 points to 1,673.67 points.

Gainers outpaced losers by 412 to 373 while 308 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.01 billion shares valued at RM783.5 million.

The top gainers included Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Shell Refining Company (Federation of Malaya) Bhd, Apollo Food Holdings Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, British America Tobacco (M) Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd and Nestle (M) Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Comintel Corporation Bhd, Instacom Group Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Icon Offshore Bhd, SapuraKencana and Sumatec Resources Bhd.

The losers included P.I.E. Industrial Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, Warisan TC Holdings Bhd, Top Glove Corporation Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Rapid Synergy Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Far East Corporation Bhd.

Asian stocks dipped on Monday amid a lack of immediate directional cues in light year-end trade, although Japanese shares managed to rise following a rebound in crude oil prices from multiple-year lows, according to Reuters.

Investors across asset markets were without some of the usual leads as markets in Europe and North America and many in Asia were closed on Friday for Christmas, it said.

AfffinHwang Capital Research said local stocks are expected to trend higher.

"ECB (European Central Bank) hints more stimulus despite recent US rate hike.

"Technically, stocks in Bursa Malaysia are ready to test higher resistances," it said.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)