KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 ― Bursa Malaysia was higher at mid-morning, with the key index remaining in positive territory, thanks to the strong buying support in banking heavyweights and Top Glove.

Bucking the regional trend, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 4.25 points to 1,650.78 as at 11.06am after moving between 1,647.65 and 1,657.92.

Top Glove was the biggest gainer among the index-linked counters, contributing 2.552 points to the rise in the composite index.

The rubber glove maker, which announced stellar quarterly results yesterday, jumped 16 sen to RM7.00 with 18.94 million shares changing hands.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 514 to 449, while 483 counters were unchanged, 691 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume stood at 3.32 billion units worth RM1.77 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM20.00, CIMB added five sen to RM4.10, and Hong Leong Financial increased eight sen to RM17.68, while Maybank and IHH Healthcare gained one sen each to RM8.39 and RM5.60, respectively.

Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.66, Hartalega lost 26 sen to RM14.40 and Tenaga was flat at RM10.64.

Among the actives, AirAsia X and Metronic added one sen each to 9.5 sen and 12 sen respectively, Sanichi inched down half-a-sen to 6.5 sen while Trive and XOX were flat at 1.5 sen and 11 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 32.64 points higher at 11,907.22, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 31.55 points to 11,663.27 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 23.76 points to 13,530.19.

The FBM 70 increased 47.46 points to 15,334.93 and the FBM ACE advanced 146.36 points to 11,086.5.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.03 of-a-point to 176.24 and the Financial Services Index rose 55.52 points to 15,113.43 but the Plantation Index slipped 0.18 of-a-point to 7,360.84. ― Bernama