KUALA LUMPUR: The rally on the domestic market continued for a sixth straight day as optimism prevailed ahead of the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meeting this week.

       At 12.30pmm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 6.54 points to 1,512.82. There were 505 gainers on the market compared to 422 decliners and 420 unchanged.

       The trading volume was 2.67 billion shares valued at RM1.49bil.

       Bank stocks helped to lead the blue chips higher, including CIMB up three sen to RM6.21, Maybank rising eight sen to RM9.22, Public Bank gaining three sen to RM4.40 and RHB climbing four sen to RM5.65.

       Axiata surged 13 sen to RM2.74 while Press Metal soared eight sen to RM4.84 and IHH gained six sen to RM6.14.

       Among the leading actives, Minetec was unchanged at 15.5 sen with 211.55 million shares traded. This was followed by YNH Property jumping 8.5 sen to 80 sen and MRCB up one sen to 66 sen.

       In key Asian markets, China's equities were buoyed by policymakers' moves to support the ailing market. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.3% to 2,918 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.9% to 16,102.

       StarPicks

       ASNB rewards Simpan Vaganza and Simpan Vaganza Online campaign winners

       Japan's Nikkei gained 1% to 36,110 while South Korea's Kospi rallied 1.5% to 2,515.