KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Bursa Malaysia was mixed at mid-afternoon today amid positive sentiment brought on by gains on Wall Street and growing hopes of Japan stimulating its economy.

Demand, however, was curbed by weak oil prices.          

At 3.07pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,663.3, up 5.88 points from Friday’s close of 1,657.42.

Gains in IHH Healthcare helped lift the composite index by 1.682 points.

The healthcare services provider’s share rose 12 sen to RM6.60 with 2.83 million shares traded.

Losers led gainers by 351 to 328, while 354 counters were unchanged, 669 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 949.49 million shares worth RM668.99 million.      

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.06 and Public Bank perked eight sen to RM19.38. TNB was flat at RM14.32.

Petronas Chemicals shed one sen to RM6.60.      

Of the actives, TH Heavy gained 3.5 sen to 15 sen, FGV edged up nine sen to RM1.87 and KNM Group added two sen to 42.5 sen.

China Automobile was flat at three sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 39.49 points to 11,650.66, FBMT100 Index improved 39.64 points to 11,346.86 and the FBM 70 expanded 44.6 points to 13,263.76.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 45.14 points higher at 12,261.51. The FBM Ace declined 9.32 points to 5,431.07.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index strengthened 40.92 points to 14,142.56 and the Industrial Index increased 18.87 points to 3,151.95.

The Plantation Index eased 5.59 points to 7,568.15. — Bernama