KUALA LUMPUR: Equities prices continued their ascent on the domestic market, in line with a rally in global equities on reports that Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to hold high-level peace talks.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 16.22 points to 1,578.22 amid a positive market breadth of 544 gainers compared to 377 decliners.

       News of the the negotiations send crude oil prices tumbling over 10% overnight, and sparked a strong rally in US and European markets.

       However, the selldown could be short-loved as Brent crude had rebounded 2.2% to US$113.58 a barrel in Thursday trading.

       Investors meanwhile took the opportunity to seek out bargains amid hopes that a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict could renew economic growth prospects.

       In Malaysia, bank stocks recouped recent losses in the hopes that the worst had passed. Maybank rose 13 sen to RM8.94, Public Bank gained 12 sne to RM4.52, CIMB climbed 14 sen to RM5.03 and Hong Leong Bank leapt 24 sen to RM20.14.

       IHH, which tumbled in the previous session, gained 10 sen to RM6.48.

       Among telcos, Axiata rose 11 sen to RM3.81, Digi gained 15 sen to RM4.02 and Maxis added 14 sen to RM4.16.

       Technology stocks rose with MPI gaining RM2.58 to RM32.46 and D&O rising 28 sen to RM4.03

       Top actives were Hibiscus shedding 17 sne to RM1.17, DNeX slipping three sen to RM1.02 and Dataprep down 1.5 sen to 35 sen.

       Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei was up nearly 4% following the sharp fall in oil prices overnight.

       South Korea's Kospi and China's main index each added 1.9% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.3%.

       Australia's ASX200 was up 1.2% with minutes to the close of trading.