PETALING JAYA: The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) adds 2.70 points to 1,508.75 as at 10 a.m. today.

Gainers leading the losers as there were 268 counters up, 158 down and 205 remained unchanged.

Among the the top three gainers were KLUANG that added 22 sen to RM3, SUNCITY-WA climbed 20 sen to RM1.11 and Nestle was up by 18 sen to RM43.50.

For the heavyweights, Maybank added a sen to RM8.97, CIMB Group climbed 8 sen to RM8.41, Sime Darby increased 6 sen to RM8.86 and MISC remained unchanged at RM8.61.

Hwang-DBS Vickers Research said from a technical perspective, the benchmark FBM KLCI will probably try to build on last week's gains of 6.2-point or 0.4% by pulling away from the psychological mark of 1,500 ahead. The immediate resistance target currently stands at 1,525.

In terms of individual company developments, investors are expected to focus on the corporate exercise involving QSR Brands, KFC Holdings (majority-owned by QSR) and Kulim (the parent company of QSR) after QSR announced that it has received a proposal to acquire its entire business and undertakings for an indicative price of RM5.60 per QSR share.

Also in the radar are IJM and Malaysian Resources Corp as both companies in their response to a stock exchange query regarding merger talk said in separate announcements that they were currently exploring various corporate proposals.

Meanwhile, after market hours today, there will be an update on the local economic front when the 3Q10 Gross Domestic Product report is out, with one media poll projecting an annual growth rate of 5.7% for the quarter, it said in a report today.

As for the regional bourses, Nikkei 225 was uo 101.65 to 10,124.04, the Hang Seng Index was down 67.69 points to 23,538.02 and Shanghai Composite Index was down 3.27 points 2,885.30.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Taiex Index climbed 46.07 points to 8,352.19, the Kospi Index added 7.53 points to 1,948.49 and the Straits Times Index shed 9.79 points to 3,187.58.