KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue-chip index gained momentum in the early session, erasing losses from the previous day to reach a fresh two-month high.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 11.54 points to 1,725.30, defying a slump in regional indices that tracked a decline in chipmakers.

The local bellwether gained on strong buying interest in select heavyweights across sectors. IOI Properties gained 15 sen to RM3.92, Sunway rose seven sen to RM5.30, Public Bank jumping 12 sen to RM5.17 and PETRONAS Dagangan climbing 32 sen to RM19.64.

Investor interest, however, remained on the blue chips as the broader market was negative with 496 declining issues compared to 480 advancing.

Trading volume was 2.1 billion shares changing hands for RM1.3bil.

The country's listed REITs fell 0.46%, energy shares dropped 0.11% and technology stocks shaved 0.14%.

There were strong sectoral gains in property shares, jumping 1.06%, financial services, rising 0.69%; plantations, adding 0.46%; and healthcare, gaining 0.33%.

Among the day's leading actives, Nationgate surged 18 sen to RM1.15. Tanco lost 1.5 sen to 30 sen and VS Industry rose two sen to 24 sen.

In regional markets, South Korea's Kospi slipped below the 7,000 mark amid a sell-off in chip stocks. The index slumped 6.59% to 6,804.

Japan's Nikkei was down 2.89% to 66,766. Shanghai's composite index dropped 0.94% to 3,918, and the CSI 300 slid 0.98% to 4,740.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.09% to 25,195.

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