KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia were slightly higher at the end of the morning session today on selective buying interest.

Dealers expect the market to remain range-bound amid a lack of significant buying interest to push it higher.

At 12:30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.78 points higher at 1,854.09.

The FBM KLCI which opened 0.5 points higher at 1,852.81, hovered between 1,851.41 and 1,856.03.

Gainers, led by consumer stocks, saw BAT rise 66 sen to RM60.26 and Nestle gaining 58 sen to RM67.28.

Among actives, GSB Group was flat at 12 sen, Symphony House lost half a sen to 29 sen and Talam Transform gained half a sen to nine sen.

As for the heavyweights, Maybank lost three sen to RM9.71, Tenaga increased 14 sen to RM11.94 and CIMB rose one sen to RM7.45.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers 378 to 305, while 330 counters were unchanged, 596 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.02 billion shares worth RM946.36 million.       

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index rose 14.5 points to 3,193.31, and the Plantation Index improved 13.81 points to 8,948.46, but the Finance Index fell 5.16 points to 16,887.96.

The FBM Emas Index increased 16.35 points to 12,841.42, the FBMT100 Index rose 12.57 points to 12,489.75, with the FBM 70 advancing 16.34 points to 14,022.37, while the FBM Ace fell 9.74 points to 6,768.32. ― Bernama