KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips advanced at midday on Friday, led by gains in telcos, Petronas Gas and Genting amid a weaker broader market despite the firmer ringgit.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 5.83 points or 0.35% to 1,662.60. Turnover was 776.93mil shares valued at RM715.57mil. There were 281 gainers, 380 losers and 286 stocks unchanged.

Crude oil futures were steady in lacklustre trading on Friday as Asian liquidity faded ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday across large parts of the region.US light crude oil rose eight cents to US$31.80 and Brent gained five cents to US$34.51. 

Petronas Gas rose 34 sen to RM22.64, Petronas Chemicals unchanged at RM7 and Petronas Dagangan eight sen lower at RM25.52 while SapuraKencana was flat at RM1.85.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM33 to RM2,563 per tonne – the highest since May 2014. KL Kepong rose 20 sen to RM23.62,  Sime Darby 11 sen to RM7.89 and IOI Corp six sen toRM4.76 but PPB Group fell 26 sen to RM16.04.

Genting rose 14 sen to RM7.94 and added 0.88 point to the KLCI while Genting Malaysia added seven sen to RM4.59. 

Among the telcos, Digi rose seven sen to RM5.05, Axiata and Telekom three sen each to RM5.88 and RM6.62 but Maxis fell six sen to RM6.09, 

As for banks, Public Bank added six sen to RM18.54, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank rose two sen each to RM4.12 and RM13.12 but Maybank fell four sen to RM8.53.

The US dollar steadied in Asian trading on Friday but remained on track for weekly losses, as investors braced for U.S. employment figures later in the session for the latest clues on the outlook for the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening path, Reuters reported.

The ringgit firmed up to 4.1305 to the US dollar from 4.1452 the previous day and was at 6.0148 to the pound sterling from 6.0655 but weakened to 2.9661 against the Singapore dollar from 2.9403.

Glove makers topped the decliners’ list due to the strong ringgit which would make their exports more expensive. Kossan fell 41 sen to RM6.59, Karex 14 sen to RM3.79 and Top Glove call warrants Top Glove-C3 tumbled 9.5 sen to 11.5 sen.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.43% to 12,629.95;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.57% to 19,292.04;

CSI 300 fell 0.3% to 2,975.66;

Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.11% to 2,777.88;

Shenzhen Composite fell 0.39% to 1,764.09;

Hang Seng China Enterprise rose 1.32% 8,079.95;

South Korea’s Kospi inched up 0.02% to 1,916.72; and

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 1.68% to 2,601.37.

Spot gold rose 52 cents to US$1,156.11.