KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today in line with the gains on most regional markets, a dealer said.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.57 points better at 1,607.17, taking the cue from the Dow Jones gain and in anticipation of positive economic measures to be unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today to strengthen the economy and to restore investor confidence.

“The FBM KLCI may stage a mild rebound but is likely to be capped near the 1,624 and 1,652 levels, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) and lingering domestic concerns.

“Further profit taking retracement will induce selling pressures towards support at the 1,561-1,595 levels,” said Hong Leong Investment Bank Research in a note today.

Market breadth, however, was negative with decliners outpacing gainers by 225 to 292 while 238 counters were unchanged, 1061 untraded and 20 others suspended. 

Turnover stood at 765.16 million shares worth RM409.86 million.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index climbed 21.88 points to 11,051, the FBMT100 Index increased 24.20 points to 10,776.97, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 32.30 points to 11,583.64.

The FBM 70 rose 27.61 points to 11,918.17, while the FBM Ace reduced 35.90 points to 5,442.73.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index went down 0.37 points to 133.42, while the Plantation Index trimmed 26.59 points to 6,863.48 and the Finance Index improved 50.77 points to 14,066.67.

For the heavyweights, Maybank added eight sen to RM8.49, Public Bank edged up two sen to RM17.80, while TNB added six sen to RM11.28.

Among actives, Sumatec eased half-a-sen to 15 sen, AirAsia decreased four sen to RM1.21 and IFCA gained half-a-sen to 82 sen.

Oriental Food Industries led the top gainers, adding 35 sen to RM6.10, while Hap Seng and Petronas Dagangan climbed 30 sen and 28 sen to 77 sen and RM21.74, respectively. — Bernama