KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): The FBM KLCI rose 0.95% at mid-morning on Thursday, lifted by blue chips including Malayan Banking Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

At 10.01am, the FBM KLCI added 16.97 points to 1,787.06.

The top gainers included Petronas Gas Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Amway (M) Holdings Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Tahps Group Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

The actives included The Media Shoppe Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Iris Corporation Bhd, Sanichi Technology Bhd, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd and Technodex Bhd.

The decliners included Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd and Genting Malaysia Bhd.

Asian shares held near six-week highs on Thursday as investors bet the European Central Bank will unveil a bond-buying stimulus programme later in the day in an attempt to revive the flagging euro zone economy, according to Reuters.

The euro treaded water ahead of the ECB decision, while the Canadian dollar took the spotlight after plunging to a nearly six-year low following the Bank of Canada's surprise move to slash its overnight rate to help cushion the economy from recently plunging oil prices, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said that following a sharp rebound to our envisaged 1770 target of 1770 (monthly high) yesterday, it was increasingly positive that the FBM KLCI would appreciate further towards 1778 (upper Bollinger band) and 1800 (100-d SMA and breakout objective) levels in the short term.

“As long as the uptrend line support near 1737 (30-d SMA) is not broken, the rally from 1671 (17 Dec low) remains intact,” it said.