KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips perked up in early trade on Thursday, the start to the third quarter of the year, with CIMB underpinning the FBM KLCI’s early advance but the broader market was mixed.

       At 9.03am, the KLCI was up 5.32 points or 0.35% to 1, 537.95. Turnover was 232.70 million shares valued at RM90.78mil. There were 179 gainers, 174 losers and 200 couhters unchanged.

       Bloomberg reported Asian stocks were mixed Thursday amid a firmer dollar as traders weighed concerns about the more contagious delta strain of Covid-19 and looked ahead to a U.S. payrolls report.

       Shares fluctuated in Japan and Australia and edged lower in South Korea. While the S&P 500 eked out an overnight gain, rounding out one of the best first halves since 1998 for U.S. stocks, the recent spread of the virus variant is tempering some of the optimism around the global recovery.

       Oil held gains in early Asian trading as the market waited for a meeting later on Thursday at which Opec+ will decide on production levels, Bloomberg reported.

       Futures in New York were steady near $73 a barrel after closing up 0.7% on Wednesday. A familiar dynamic has emerged in the alliance, with Russia and Kazakhstan proposing boosting supply while Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies favour a more cautious approach, according to delegates.

       At Bursa on Wednesday, local institutions were net buyers at RM137.4mil and local retail investors at RM68.6mil but foreign funds remained net sellers, increasing their net selling of local equities at RM206mil.

       CIMB added five sen to RM4.66 and Genting Malaysia four sen to RM2.81.

       Novelplus Technology, which was listed on the LEAP Market, jumped 13 sen to 28 sen.

       Paragon was among the top gainers, up 16 sen to RM1.60, QL Resources three sen to RM5.68 and Apex Healthcare five sen to RM3.18.

       Euro Holdings gained 15 sen to RM1.08 as speculators tried to entice investors after the recent hammering of its share price.

       Serba Dinamik shed 0.5 sen to 32.5 sen with 26 million shares done.

       BAT fell 18 sen to RM14.10, Petronas Dagangan eight sen to RM18.52 and IOI Corp six sen to RM3.70.