KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were higher at mid-afternoon today, lifted by gains in selected blue chips led by SapuraKencana, dealers said.

At 3.07pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 11.79 points to 1,815.37.

SapuraKencana rose 24 sen to RM4.32 with 37.835 million lots traded. The actively-traded counter was the sixth biggest gainer.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index gained 9.07 points to 16,844.18, Industrial Index increased 18.94 points to 3,119.3 and the Plantation Index rose 51.38 points to 8,480.39.

The FBM Emas Index soared 64.74 points to 12,622.83, FBM70 Index rose 19.9 points to 14,366.67 and the FBMT100 advanced 66.35 points to 12,351.59.

The FBM Ace Index, however, fell 20.97 points to 5,541.99.      

Market breadth was positive with gainers trouncing losers by 424 to 295, while 326 counters were unchanged, 578 untraded and 15 others suspended.   

Volume stood at 1.17 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion.           

Among actives, China Stationery gained 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen and Xidelang rose 2.5 sen to 38 sen.

Of the heavyweights, CIMB rose six sen to RM7.65 and Maybank added one sen to RM9.96.

Axiata Group and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM6.91 and RM7.11, respectively.

Sime Darby slipped two sen to RM9.56. — Bernama