Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia maintained its upward trajectory at midday, buoyed by active buying activities, mirroring the positive performance observed across most regional markets. At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced by 8.33 points to 1,728.73, rising from the previous day's closing figure of 1,720.40. The benchmark index began the trading session 0.83 points higher at 1,721.23, fluctuating between 1,715.67 and 1,730.12 throughout the morning.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the broader market reflected positivity with 609 gainers compared to 350 losers. Meanwhile, 497 counters remained unchanged, 1,285 were untraded, and 56 were suspended. The turnover reached 1.60 billion shares, amounting to RM1.35 billion in value. In the regional context, South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index surged by 14.81 per cent to 6,422.22, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 3.65 per cent to 64,124.55, and Shanghai's SSE Composite Index rose by 0.76 per cent to 3,833.65. Conversely, Indonesia's IDX Composite Index decreased by 0.48 per cent to 6,216.28, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.11 per cent to 25,830.58, and Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 0.82 per cent to 5,626.87.

In terms of sector performance, technology stocks led the gains following Microsoft's reported earnings for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2026, which amounted to US$90 billion, marking an 18 per cent increase from the previous year's fourth quarter. Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional, and CIMB each added two sen to RM10.90, RM14.64, and RM7.85, respectively. Public Bank increased by three sen to RM5.19, while IHH Healthcare decreased by one sen to RM8.34. Active stocks included Zetrix AI, which gained two sen to 73.5 sen, and Nationgate, which recovered eight sen to RM1.21.

Leading the gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries rose RM2.74 to RM45.74, Nestl© increased RM2.70 to RM102.20, and ViTrox surged 79 sen to RM8.79. On the other hand, Concrete Engineering Products led the decliners, dropping 16 sen to RM3.30. United Plantations fell 14 sen to RM33.56, and Allianz Malaysia eased one sen to RM21.10. On the indices board, the FBM Emas Index gained 81.52 points to 12,775.85, and the FBM Top 100 Index increased by 78.20 points to 12,609.51. Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.52 points to 188.52, while the Plantation Index slipped 7.14 points to 9,319.92.