KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in positive territory at mid-afternoon today, still supported by buying in selected heavyweight stocks.

At 3.00pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.64 points to 1,666.38 from yesterday's close of 1,662.74 after opening 1.2 points lower at 1,661.54.

On the broader market, it remained negative with losers outpacing gainers 706 to 405, while 503 counters were unchanged, 532 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume stood at 5.73 billion units worth RM2.77 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank rose 38 sen to RM21.68, Petronas Chemicals added four sen at RM7.89, Tenaga increased 18 sen to RM10.78 and Top Glove gained six sen to RM6.38.

Maybank fell seven sen to RM8.83.

Of the actives, Sino Hua-An improved 2.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Yong Tai added 5.5 sen to 34 sen and Iris edged up half-a-sen to 37.5 sen while XOX and Focus Dynamics warrants were flat at 10.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 5.69 points better at 11,937.65, the FBMT 100 Index increased 9.16 points to 11,709.39, the FBM ACE rose 54.91 points to 10,523.03, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 5.24 points to 13,213.83.

The FBM 70 decreased 52.92 points to 15,144.71.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 0.24 of a point to 176.21, the Plantation Index lost 30.16 points to 7,312.43 and the Financial Services Index declined 31.08 points to 15,883.26. ― Bernama