KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — Bursa Malaysia continued to strengthen at mid-morning today, buoyed by continued buying interest in most heavyweights, mid-sized and small-cap counters.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 17.68 points to 1,482.29 after opening 4.25 points better at 1,468.86.

Market breadth was positive with gainers overtaking losers 749 to 225, while 349 counters were unchanged, 818 untraded and 28 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 2.56 billion units worth RM1.26 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM7.05, Hartalega gained eight sen to RM17.92, Public Bank bagged 14 sen to RM15.00, and Petronas Gas increased 20 sen to RM16.00.

Fraser and Neave topped the gainers’ list, adding 66 sen to RM31.74; followed by KL Kepong which added 52 sen to RM22.78, and Hong Leong Financial which rose 40 sen to RM14.34.

Of the actives, AT Systematization fell half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, Vsolar gained half-a-sen to 40 sen, Konsortium Transnasional increased 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen, while Berjaya Corporation added two sen to 20.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 145.75 points to 10,749.75, the FBMT 100 Index was 140.85 points better at 10,549.51 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 188.57 points to 12,919.89.

The FBM 70 went up 247.38 points to 14,170.38 and the FBM ACE was 160.90 points firmer at 10,253.07.

The Financial Services Index rose 122.32 points to 12,104.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.77 point better at 145.74 and the Plantation Index gained 80.44 points to 6,987.41. — Bernama