KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian stock market barometer registered marginal gains in morning trade on Monday following a decline across US markets last Friday.

At 9.39am, FBM KLCI was up 0.18 points to 1,274.54. Across the board, a total of 111 stocks gained while 131 entities declined as investors traded 122.77 million shares worth RM82.912 million.

Top gainer was Jerneh Asia Bhd, which added 14 sen to RM1.62 while the biggest decliner was KFC Holdings (M) Bhd, which fell 89 sen to RM6.51. Most active was newly listed TA Global Bhd, which traded unchanged at its issue price of 50 sen with some 23 million shares done.

Among regional indices, China's Shanghai SE rose 0.14% to 3,312.97 at 9.26am, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.74% to 4,720.30 while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.08% to 1,619.38. Japan stock markets are not trading today due to a national holiday.

Commodity prices rose. Crude oil for January next year at the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 51 cents to USD77.98 a barrel at 9.15am while spot prices for gold added USD9.88 to USD1,160.48 at 9.25am.

The ringgit, meanwhile, was firmer against major currencies. It strengthened to 3.3760 versus the US dollar, 5.5763 compared to the pound sterling, 3.7941 against the yen and 2.4336 versus the Singapore dollar.