KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Bursa Malaysia continued its uptrend at mid-afternoon today,  on persistent buying of  heavyweights stocks led by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Axiata, ahead of the Budget 2018 announcement today, dealers said.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.98 points higher at 1,747.78 after opening 4.54 points better at 1,741.34 from Thursday's close of 1,736.80.

On the broader market, gainers  outpaced losers 444 to 304, with 398 counters unchanged, 729 counters untraded and 106 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.78 billion shares worth RM1.37 billion.

TNB surged 72 sen to RM15.06 and Axiata rose seven sen to RM5.34, with both stocks contributing a combined 8.0 points to the rise in the composite index. 

Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby improved eight sen to RM9.16, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals eased one sen each to RM9.23 and RM7.39 respectively, while  Public Bank was flat at RM20.48

Among active counters, UMW Oil & Gas warrant added 1.5 sen to 16 sen, Sino Hua-An and M3 Technologies gained one sen each to 24 sen and 16 sen, while APFT was flat at three sen.

The FBM Emas Index rose 78.36 points to 12,548.06, the  FBMT100 Index was 76.74 points firmer at 12,187.26, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 150.29 points to 12,996.51. 

The FBM Ace was up 18.52 points to 6,912.13 and the FBM 70 increased 96.63 points to 15,249.62.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 11.52 points better at 7,950.96, the Industrial Index rose 10.08 points to 3,203.51 and the Finance Index improved 11.81 points to 16,253.50. — Bernama