KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia's rally picked up over the morning session as regional sentiment jumped on Beijing's promises to prop up its slowing economy.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 9.76 to 1,434.45. There were 486 gainers to 334 decliners as the overall market was bolstered by the improved sentiment.

       Trading volume was 2.32 billion shares valued at RM1.12bil.

       China yuan's strengthened by 0.5% to 7.1513 against the US dollar following news of the government's support while Malaysia's ringgit tracked the gains by 0.1% to 4.5635 against the greenback.

       On Bursa Malaysia, bank counters led the rally with Maybank up six sen to RM8.98, Public Bank gaining five sne to RM4.03, CIMB rising eight sen to RM5.43 and Hong Leong Bank climbing 26 sen to RM19.20.

       Commodities plays were also on the climb as PETRONAS Chemicals added 13 sne to RM6.63 and Press Metal jumped nine sen to RM4.90.

       In plantations, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 18 sen to RM23.50, Sime Darby Plantation added two sen to RM4.59 and IOI gained seven sen to RM4.14.

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       Among top actives on the market, Classita was down 2.5 sen to 12.5 sen, MYMBN rose 6.5 sen to 27.5 sen and Hong Seng gained 0.5 sen to nine sen.

       China's main index rose 1.9% to 3,223 on Beijing stimulus plans while Hong Kong's Haang Seng climbed 3.2% to 19,258.

       Japan's Nikkei however fell 0.4% to 32,562 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.15% to 2,632.