KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was flattish at midday following the release of the country's second quarter gross domestic product (GDP).

       At 12.30pm, the key index was down 0.34 point to 1,501.64 after Bank Negara reported 16.1% growth in the nation's economy in the second quarter of the year, as it rose off a low base from a year go.

       The GDP growth, which beat analysts' expectations of 13% to 15%, was underpinned by improvement in domestic demand and a robust exports performance.

       The FBM KLCI continues to hold above the 1,500 psychological level, which was reclaimed in the previous session. According to Malacca Securities Research, next resistance is envisaged at 1,520 while support is set at `1,480 to 1,500.

       Turnover was slow with trading activity seemingly dampened by the high level of uncertainty on the market. Over the morning session, 1.92 billion shares exchanged hands for RM965.93mil.

       Despite the strong-than-expected GDP growth, bank stocks were seen little changed. Mahybank rose two sen to RM8.03, Public Bank was flat at RM3.95, CIMB fell one sen to RM4.59 and Hong Leong added two sen to RM18.22.

       Consumer giant Nestle dropped RM1.10 to RM132.20 while Tenaga Nasional shed four sen to RM9.66.

       Telco counters Maxis was down three sen to RM4.31 and Digi slid given sent o RM4.26. Axiata however rose two sen to RM3.80.

       On the broader market, top actives were Serba Dinamik up 1.5 sne to 43.5 sen, KNM rising 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen and DNeX down two sen to 79.5 sen.

       In Asia, investors continued to deal with fallout from the regulatory crackdown in China and the rising infections from the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

       Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1% while South Korea's Kospi fell 1.4%. China's composite index slid 0.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.7% while Australia's ASX200 was up 0.5%.