KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): The FBM KLCI rose in early trade in line with most regional markets, lifted by select blue chips.

At 9am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.57 points to 1,809.22.

Teh top gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery (M) Holdings Bhd, C.I. Holdings Bhd, Genting Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd.

Asian shares rose on Monday as investors cheered China's latest cut to interest rates to bolster its flagging economy and as Wall Street rallied after a robust headline reading for U.S. employment.

China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday, and analysts predicted policymakers would relax reserve requirements and cut rates again in the coming months.

JF Apex Securities Research in a market preview today said that US markets surged following favorable employment data on Friday.

Similarly, it said European stocks rallied after UK's election results which saw the incumbent Conservative Party retaining majority votes.

“On the local market, the FBM KLCI added 2.55 points to 1807.65 points after surrendering its intra-day gains.

“Following the optimism in the US and Europe, we expect the KLCI to be positive today with resistance at 1820 points, marked by the 200-day moving average,” it said.