KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Bursa Malaysia stayed firm at mid-morning in tandem with regional peers, on positive sentiment surrounding the market brought on by the approval of Budget 2021 by Parliament yesterday.

The performance was in line with regional peers, which took cue from US stocks which rose sharply overnight as investors reacted to signs that a fiscal-stimulus bill is expected to be passed soon, dealers said

At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 16.86 points higher at 1,690.88 compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,674.05.

It opened 20.31 points higher at 1,694.33.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 767 to 330, while 432 counters were unchanged, 615 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Volume stood at 4.90 billion units worth RM2.01 billion.

In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said fresh optimism over the US stimulus package had pushed Wall Street higher with the Nasdaq charting a record high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 340 points to remain above the 30,000 mark.

As such, it said the regional markets were reckoned to reverse yesterday’s weakness and moved mostly higher today.

"On the local front, we believed the late buying euphoria after the approval of Budget 2021 to be short-lived as we see profit-taking to emerge.

"Meanwhile, keep an eye at the plantation sector as crude palm oil (CPO) remains strong at above RM3,600 a tonne. If this persists, December would be the best month for CPO this year,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added six sen each to RM8.91, Public Bank rose 30 sen to RM21.98 and Top Glove gained 36 sen to RM6.77.

Petronas Chemicals shed 24 sen to RM7.72, while Tenaga was flat at RM10.80.

Of the actives, Sino Hua-An improved one sen to 21.5 sen, Bina Puri warrant and Tiger Synergy added three sen each to 7.5 sen and 15.5 sen respectively, Tiger Synergy warrant climbed 8.5 sen to 10 sen, and Dynaciate edged up half-a-sen to 12.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 133.70 points higher at 12,142.73, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 132.87 points to 11,908.76, the FBM 70 surged 220.89 points to 15,502.02, the FBM ACE rose 65.70 points to 10,757.02, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 167.76 points to 13,464.72.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Index increased 110.64 points to 16,062.36, the Plantation Index gained 9.18 points to 7,401.07, but the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.05 points to 176.59. — Bernama