KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) remained higher at mid-afternoon today, on sustained buying interest in selected heavyweights.

As at 3.06pm, the FBM KLCI was 5.01 points better at 1,888.35.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd Regional Chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said buying support for the market recently was foreign in nature.

“The foreigners have bought up stocks like Telekom and IOI Corp and this has impacted the index positively today,” he told Bernama, adding that the index had done well despite the regional market’s negative gyrations.

Telekom Malaysia soared 11 sen to RN6.56 and IOI Corp added two sen to RM5.32.

Lee also said the key index is likely to reach the 1,900 psychological level this week.

Market breadth was negative, with losers edging gainers 369 to 361, while 302 counters were unchanged, 595 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.557 billion shares worth RM1.27 billion.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index rose 11.51 points to 9,377.62, the Finance Index increased 37.01 points to 17,120.86, and the Industrial Index gained 7.45 points to 3,214.16.

The FBM Emas Index appreciated 24.95 points to 13,020.42, the FBMT100 Index was 26.64 points higher at 12,671.44, the FBM 70 edged up 2.02 points to 14,034.13, but the FBM Ace slipped seven points to 6,662.4.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.97, TNB increased 12 sen to RM12.18, CIMB gained five sen to RM7.37 and Public Bank was flat at RM19.84.

Among actives, IFCA MSC edged up half-a-sen to 11.5 sen and Ahmad Zaki Resources fell 1.5 sen to 72.5 sen. — Bernama