KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Bursa Malaysia extended earlier gains at mid-morning today, on persistent buying in selected heavyweights led by IHH Healthcare and Genting Malaysia.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.1 points to 1,664.52, against Friday’s close of 1,664.52.

The barometer index opened 0.22 point higher at 1,657.64.

IHH Healthcare and Genting Malaysia gained 10 sen each to RM6.58 and RM4.50 respectively.     

Among other heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals perked four sen each to RM8.07 and RM6.65 respectively, Public Bank advanced 80 sen to RM19.38, but TNB slipped two sen to RM14.30.         

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index improved 44.32 points to 11,655.49, the FBMT100 Index increased 43.55 points to 11,350.77 and the FBM 70 expanded 33.01 points to 13,249.16.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 45.93 points to 12,262.3, but the FBM Ace fell 15.73 points to 5,424.66.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index strengthened 49.23 points to 14,150.87, the Industrial Index increased 20.1 points to 3,153.18, and the Plantation Index gained 12.13 points to 7,586.63.

Gainers outpaced losers 286 to 243, while 310 counters were unchanged, 863 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 574.08 million shares worth RM322.43 million.

Of the actives, TH Heavy gained two sen to 13.5 sen, KNM Group added 1.5 sen to 42 sen, while China Automobile was flat at three sen. — Bernama