KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained slightly positive at midday as investors picked up bargains after yesterday's sell-off.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was up 3.12 points to 1,536.48.

       Public Bank was up three sen to RM4.15, CIMB gained one sen to RM5.44 while Maybank dropped two sen to RM8.28 and Hong Leong Bank slipped eight sen to RM19.02.

       Tenaga Nasional was up five sen to RMsix sen, Press Metal rose one sen to RM5.71 and IOI gained six sne to RM3.81.

       On the broader market, SAM Engineering climbed 28 sen to RM23.98, Hoover rose 16 sen to RM1.09 and Panasonic gained 16 sen to RM1.09

       Among actives, MQTech gained four sne to 10.5 sne, AT Sytemization was flat at three sen and DGB added 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen.

       In regional markets, shares were up after two days of losses ahead of US jobs data.

       Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.15%, South Korea's Kospi rose 1% and China's composite index gained 0.35%.