KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today as the key index stayed above the 1,500 level, buoyed by the positive sentiment stemming from the expansionary Budget 2021 announced last Friday.

A dealer said the positive global sentiment was also aided by Joe Biden’s victory in the United States presidential election, signalling a recovery for the state’s economy.

At 11.04am, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.03 points to 1,521.67 after opening 1.99 points better at 1,521.63

Gainers trounced losers 593 to 388, while 394 counters were unchanged, 773 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 4.8 billion worth RM1.84 billion.

Despite mild profit taking in several heavyweights, gains in Hartalega and Top Glove continued to support the barometre index.

Top Glove rose six sen to RM8.56 and Hartalega bagged 42 sen to RM18.62.

Meanwhile, Public Bank perked eight sen to RM15.30, Maybank slipped two sen to RM7.16 and Tenaga lost eight sen to RM10.22.

Of the actives, AT Systematization improved 3.5 sen to 16.5 sen, Lambo and XOX inched up half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 12 sen, respectively, Pegasus added one sen to three sen while Sapura Energy was flat at 10.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index edged up 22.53 points to 11,041.5, the FBMT 100 Index was 18.23 points better at 10,831.52, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 52.46 points to 13,327.86.

The FBM 70 went up 39.23 points to 14,556.03 and the FBM ACE jumped 361.97 points to 11,335.89.

The Financial Services Index eased 4.15 points to 12,290.31, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.75 of-a-point to 150.54 and the Plantation Index gained 8.73 points to 7,132.11. — Bernama