KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was slightly higher at midday on the back of an increase in the prices of bank and energy stocks.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark index had risen 1.12 points to 1,557.04 as the recent increase in the overnight policy rate by Bank Negara sent financial services counters higher on expectations of improved lending margins.

       Maybank rose four sen to RM9.14, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.68 and Hong Leong Bank was up 12 sen to RM20.66. However, CIMB slid two sen to RM5.08.

       Brent crude futures rose overnight to US$108 a barrel, which gave oil and gas-related stocks a push in Thursday trading.

       Petronas Chemicals advanced nine sen to RM9.98 while lower liners on the rise included Hengyuan Refining up 44 sen to RM7.17 and Petron Malaysia gaining 29 sen to RM6.30.

       Leading the actives list, Serba Dinamik recovered three sen to nine sen on the back of 291 million shares traded, following the plunge in valuation earlier this week.

       MNC was up one sen to 3.5 sen and Technax rose 0.5 sen to 12 sen with 132 million and 118 million shares traded respectively.

       In major Asian markets, equities prices tracked the overnight slide on Wall Street as US data showed inflation not fall as much as expected from previous peak levels.

       Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.3%, South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.8% and China's composite index rose 0.2%.

       Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 1.1% and Australia's ASX200 shed 1.5%.