KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher on renewed buying interest in selected heavyweights.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,692.23, up 1.31 points, from Tuesday’s close of 1,690.92.

It opened 0.1 of a point easier at 1,690.82. Decliners outpaced gainers 330 to 318 with 1,106 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at 773.18 million shares worth RM689.4 million.

A dealer said traders were still holding back as they are being cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting today which would indicate the direction of interest rates.

“However, the local bourse is doing relatively better compared to major Asia-Pacific markets,” he said.

Among the top gainers included Panasonic which rose 32 sen to RM27.32 while

Hong Leong Bank Bhd improved 18 sen to RM13.20 and Aeon Credit Service was up 14 sen at RM11.96.

For the actives, AirAsia was down two sen at RM1.77, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd was up 12 sen at RM1.30 with AirAsia X was flat at 30.5 sen.

Among top losers, Hap Seng eased 15 sen to RM7.59, KESM Industries Bhd was down 12 sen at RM4.45 and Petron Malaysia declined 10 sen to RM5.77.

The FBM Emas Index was up 12.2 points at 11,731.84, the FBMT100 Index rose 12.24 points to 11,438.99 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 8.22 points to 12,388.19.

Meanwhile, the FBM 70 increased 26.08 points to 12,992.13 and the FBM Ace gained 46.08 points at 5,609.89.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 29.17 points lower at 8,001.84, the Industrial Index slid 11.95 points to 3,264.46 but the Finance Index increased 59.97 points to 14,429.89. — Bernama