KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 ― Bursa Malaysia continued its uptrend at mid-afternoon today, on buying interest in blue chip stocks, and while tracking the higher regional peers, though some were closed for the Good Friday holiday, dealers said.

At 3.04pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was trading at 1,863.26, up 6.91 points from Thursday’s close of 1,856.35, after opening 3.02 points higher at 1,859.37.

Market breadth, was however negative, with 383 losers to 331 gainers, while 385 counters were unchanged, 813 untraded and 57 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.03 million shares worth RM734.10 million.

Among heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM10.50, Public Bank was flat at RM24.00, Tenaga was four sen higher at RM16.20, CIMB added two sen to RM7.18 and Petronas Chemicals gained 11 sen to RM8.26.

For most actives, Sapura Energy added three sen to 53.5 sen, SKH was flat at nine sen and PUC bagged 3.5 sen to 21.5 sen.

Of the top gainers, Nestle surged RM3.90 to RM154.90, Dutch Lady advanced RM1.28 sen to RM68.28 and Apollo gained 25 sen to RM4.04.

The FBM Emas Index increased 47.49 points to 13,033.00, the FBMT 100 Index was 52.18 points firmer at 12,837.86 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 61.35 points to 13,223.99.

The FBM 70 surged 78.87 points to 15,554.34 and the FBM Ace was 17.75 points better at 5,390.88.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index bagged 36.14 points to 18,171.32, the Industrial Index increased 15.80 points to 3,242.42 and the Plantation Index was up 22.26 points to 8,007.81. ― Bernama