KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI crossed above the psychological 1,500-point resistance in Wednesday morning trade, as market sentiment improved on the back of the government's plan to relax movement restrictions for the those who had completeted their Covid vaccinations.

       At 12.30pm, the key index was up 7.38 points to 1,504.11, breaking free of the sideways trading it had seen in recent sessions.

       Financial counters led the index higher while on the broader market, tech-related stocks rallied on the back of optimism over strong earnings results.

       Buoyed by the promise of an increase in economic activity, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.04, CIMB added six sen to RM4.58 while Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM18.22 and Public Bank stayed flat at RM3.96.

       Aluminium manufacturer Press Metal jumped six sen to RM5 while glove producer Top Glove climbed seven sen to RM3.80.

       In semiconductor plays, Genetec was up RM2.50 to RM27.90, MPI rose 30 sen to RM45 and Unsemi climbed 21 sen to RM9.27.

       Equipment manufacturing plays were also in the spotlight led by Kumpulan H&L up 54 sen to RM5.13, Sam Engineering rising 48 sen to RM14.68 and Kobay Technology climbed 24 sen to RM4.75.

       Top actives were DNeX up four sen to 85.5 sen, Tawin gaining 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen and M3Tech rising 1.5 sen to seven sen.

       Meanwhile, Asian markets were mostly higher on the back of strong US corporate results, which took Wall Street to record levels of trading.

       Japan's Nikkei was up 0.5% while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6%.

       In China, the main index was up 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2%. Australia's ASX200 gained 0.3%.