KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 9): The FBM KLCI rose 1.02% at the midday break today, staying firmly above the 1,700-point level in line with the strong gains at regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose 17.53 points to 1,709.73, lifted by select blue chips including heavyweights Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Petronas-linked stocks.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, APM Automotive Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd, Tenaga and Petronas Gas Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included KNM Group Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, Luster Corporation Bhd, XOX Bhd, Berjaya Corporation Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, IFCA MSC Bhd and AirAsia Bhd.

The top losers included Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Ducth Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Aeon Credit Services (M) Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Tasek Corporation Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd.

Asian shares rose on Friday, taking their cue from the jump in oil prices and Wall Street gains after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting damped down expectations of an imminent Fed rate hike, according to Reuters.

The Fed minutes revealed the extent to which policymakers are concern that a global economic slowdown might threaten the US economic outlook. Though they said overseas turmoil had not "materially altered" economic prospects, they opted to hold interest rates steady last month, it said.

BIMB Securities Research said that in Asia, equities took a breather following a solid performance recently.

Locally, it said the FBM KLCI defied gravity as it ended the day on positive territory at 1,692.20 or up 2.95 points.

"Most heartening of course was that the local bourse saw another net foreign inflow of RM120.7 million yesterday.

"We expect the buying momentum of the local bourse to persist and may carry the index to beyond the 1,700 mark today," 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.)