KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Share prices remained higher on Bursa Malaysia at mid-afternoon today amid positive sentiment surrounding the market, with buying interest in heavyweights led by glove manufacturers continued to support the barometre index.

At 3.01 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.34 points to 1,686.36  from Tuesday’s close of 1,674.05 after opening 20.31 points higher at 1,694.33.

On the broader market, gainers overwhelmed losers 843 to 403, while 427 counters were unchanged, 471 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Volume stood at 8.02 billion units worth RM3.37 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank rose 26 sen to RM21.94, Tenaga gained four sen at RM10.84 and Top Glove bagged 35 sen to RM6.75.

Maybank shed two sen to RM8.83 and Petronas Chemicals fell 41 sen to RM7.55.

Of the actives, Sino Hua-An and MLabs edged up half-a-sen each to 21 sen and 8.5 sen respectively, Bina Puri warrant added 2.5 sen to seven sen, Tiger Synergy warrant climbed seven sen to 8.5 sen and Sunzen Biotech warrant improved three sen to four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 122.39 points higher at 12,131.42, the FBMT 100 Index jumped 111.09 points to 11,886.98, the FBM 70 surged 239.63 points to 15,520.76, the FBM ACE added 13.57 points to 10,704.89, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 163.02 points to 13,459.98.

Meanwhile, the Plantation Index slipped 32.32 points to 7,359.57, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.69 points to 175.96 but the Financial Services Index increased 50.53 points to 16,002.25. — Bernama