KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out slight gains early Wednesday in the absence of strong fund buying while worries about the economic impact following the curbs under phase one of the National Recovery Plan weighed.

       At 9.08am, the FBM KLCI was up just 0.09 of a point or 0.06% to 1, 549.21. Turnover was 232.38 million shares valued at RM90.61mil. There were 152 gainers, 175 losers and 232 counters unchanged.

       On the external front, Asian stocks rose early Wednesday after US shares closed at a record on economic optimism and signs that vaccines can counter a highly infectious coronavirus strain, Bloomberg reported.

       Japanese, Australian and South Korean shares climbed modestly. U.S. contracts were higher after the S&P 500 eked out a gain, remaining on track for a fifth monthly advance -- the longest run since August.

       Moderna Inc. reached an all-time peak after saying its vaccine produced protective antibodies against the delta strain, which has spread around the world since emerging in India.

       Reuters reports oil prices steadied as broad hopes for a demand recovery persisted, fueled by comments from OPEC's secretary general, slightly overshadowing travel curbs due to new outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

       Brent crude futures settled up eight cents, or 0.1%, at $74.76 a barrel, having slumped by 2% on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up seven cents, or 0.1%, at $72.98 a barrel, after a 1.5% retreat on Monday, it reported.

       At Bursa on Tuesday, foreign funds remained net sellers at RM55.8mil and local funds at RM44.3mil but local retailers net buyers at RM100.2mil.

       HLFG rose 42 sen to RM18.22, MPI 20 sen to RM39.20, Hightec 15 sen to RM2.39, Apollo 10 sen to RM3.80, Poh Huat six sen to RM1.45, BIMB five sen to RM3.89 and OCR three sen to 23.5 sen.

       Green Packet climbed 2.5 sen to 27 sen in active trade while Serba Dinamik lost 0.5 sen to 31.5 sen.

       Nestle was down 50 sen to RM132.80, Petronas Dagangan 14 sen to RM18.84, OMH 12 sen to RM2.88, Genetec 11 sen to RM8.90 and HLBank eight sen to RM18.76.