KUALA LUMPUR: Gains in finance and palm oil plantation stocks pushed the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI to end the morning trading higher, tracking the rallies from Wall Stret and European markets, dealers said.

At mid-day, the key index stood at 1,573.22, up 9.2 points after opening 6.04 points higher at 1,570.06.

The US' stocks best day of the year, lifted by stronger economic outlook from the Federal Reserve and upbeat retail sales data, contributed to the upbeat sentiment today on the local bourse.

The Finance Index jumped 87.689 points to 14,096.02, the Plantation Index eased 3.771 points to 8,592.31 and the Industrial Index improved 10.07 points to 2,837.98.

The FBM Emas Index rose 59.92 points to 10,861.64, the FBM 70 Index perked 50.89 points to 12,175.27 and the FBM Ace Index dwindled 3.04 points to 4,583.22.

Advancers led decliners 427 to 221 with 318 counters unchanged and 527 untraded.

A total of 630.983 million shares worth RM701.736 million were traded.

Actives were led by Naim Indah Corp, which shed 1.5 sen to 67 sen, Astral Supreme earned half-a-sen to 21.5 sen and Euro Holdings eased one sen to 45.5 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals each gained five sen to RM8.74 and RM6.75, respectively, Sime Darby rose three sen to RM9.72 and CIMB advanced 11 sen to RM7.37.