Published: Tuesday November 20, 2012 MYT 12:56:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday November 20, 2012 MYT 2:30:30 PM
FBM KLCI up at noon
KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared down its gains and closed the morning session marginally higher, with banking heavyweights supporting the index.
At 12.30pm, the local index barometer was up 2.15 points or 0.13% to 1,625.46. Turnover was 585.8 million shares valued at RM850.7 million. There were 243 gainers, 254 losers and 324 stocks unchanged.
Key regional markets are mostly higher with Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.16% to 9,167.39, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.83% to 21,439.14, Korea's Kospi gained 0.59% to 1,889.11, and Singapore's Straits Times Index ga
Losers, BAT shed 44 sen to RM57.50, Aeon Credit lost 22 sen to RM12.98, HLBank declined 10 sen to RM14.30 and IQ Group dropped 25 sen to 40 sen.
US light crude oil was quoted at 16 cents lower at USD89.12 per barrel, and Brent crude was 10 cents lower at USD111.60.
Spot gold gained USD1.60 to USD1,733.20, and the ringgit strengthened against the USD to 3.0566.
Crude palm oil for third-month futures shed RM7 to RM2,452 per tonne.