Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher, supported by fresh buying interest across the board with gains led by heavyweights in industrial products, financials and telecommunications.
At 3.40pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 20.48 points (1.43%) to 1,475.72 from 1,474.76 at the close last Friday.
The benchmark index opened 19.29 points stronger at 1,474.05 and moved between 1,472.14 and 1,479.03 throughout the morning trading session.
In the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 667 to 243, with 346 counters unchanged, 1,127 untraded and nine suspended.
Total trading volume amounted to 1.93 billion shares worth RM1.05 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said traders would be closely monitoring Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Malaysia from April 15 to 17 amid hopes of boosting investment flows to the country.
Meanwhile, they believe Malaysia's glove-making sector could benefit from the widening tariff differential with its Chinese counterparts.
Coupled with lower raw material costs, this could support stronger demand and margin expansion.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional rose 8.0 sen to RM9.90 and RM13.30 respectively, CIMB Group added 7.0 sen to RM6.72, and Public Bank rose 6.0 sen to RM4.30.
Meanwhile, IHH Healthcare fell 5.0 sen to RM6.75.
