KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today on improved market sentiment as traders took cue from the overnight gains on Wall Street.

At 11.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.01 points better at 1,846.63 points from 1,842.62 at yesterday's close, after opening 5.56 points better at 1,848.18 this morning.

A dealer said traders took advantage of yesterday’s sell-off to accumulate quality stocks at a cheaper price as fears of a trade war, led by the United States, eases.

"Market players are now betting that US President Donald Trump will back down on his planned imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium, thus diminishing fears of a trade war,” he added.

Market breadth was positive, as gainers overtook losers 516 to 236, while 347 counters remained unchanged, 774 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.19 billion shares worth RM764.55 million.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM10.46, Public Bank rose 12 sen to RM23.02, Tenaga was flat at RM15.66 and CIMB gained one sen to RM7.21.

Of the actively-traded stocks, HB Global rose 5.5 sen to 30 sen, Ace Market debutant Wegmans inched up two sen to 31 sen and NWP was 4.5 sen better at 17.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index gained 37.67 points to 13,079.54, the FBMT 100 Index was 33.14 points better at 12,805.28 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 37.36 points to 13,260.62.

The FBM 70 was 59.86 points higher at 15,796.36 and the FBM Ace increased 62.55 points to 6,086.17.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index garnered 77.91 points to 18,114.57, the Industrial Index decreased 9.61 points to 3,197.77, while the Plantation Index added 0.31 of-a-point to 8,076.17. ― Bernama