KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 — Bursa Malaysia remained slightly higher at mid-morning today amid active trading with buying mostly spotted for banking- and consumer-related stocks.

At 11.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,731.41, up 0.42 of a point from last Friday’s close of 1,730.99.

The key index opened 0.14 of-a-point better at 1,731.13.

Among banking stocks, Public Bank rose six sen to RM19.96, CIMB gained three sen to RM5.41, while both RHB Bank and Maybank bagged two sen each to RM 5.08 and RM8.97 respectively.

As for consumer stocks, BAT edged up 24 sen to RM47.04, Nestle and Ajinomoto advanced 16 sen each to RM80.50 and RM17.30, while Fraser & Neave improved 10 sen to RM24.00.

Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers 339 to 315, with 349 counters unchanged, 740 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.13 billion shares worth RM376.45 million.

The FBM Emas Index rose 9.21 points to 12,317.33 as the FBMT100 Index gained 7.85 points to 11,955.96, and the FBM Ace improved 34.49 points to 6,036.11.

The FBM 70 increased 28.21 points to 14,523.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 1.09 points to 12,760.49.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index soared 56.19 points to 15,620.9 and the Plantation Index perked 9.57 points to 7,923.6.But, the Industrial Index eased 1.55 points to 3,235.61.

Among heavyweights, TNB was flat at RM13.70, but Sime Darby and IHH Healthcare slipped one sen each to RM9.26 and RM6.03 respectively.

As for actives, GSB Group added one sen to 13 sen, but Anzo Holdings eased 4.5 sen to 51 sen while Borneo Oil was flat at 19 sen. — Bernama