KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to trade higher at mid-afternoon, driven by consistent buying in selected technology counters, amidst the mixed sentiment in the regional markets.

As at 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.45 points to 1,580.07.

The index opened 13.97 points higher at 1,590.59, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,576.62.

On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 598 to 459, while 475 counters were unchanged, 611 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 4.13 billion units worth RM2.96 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank improved 20 sen to RM4.46, Maybank was 6.0 sen higher at RM7.94, and TNB perked 4.0 sen to RM9.69.

Conversely, Petronas Chemicals fell 8.0 sen to RM6.82 and Top Glove shed 28 sen to RM6.24.

Of the actives, DNeX went down 1.0 sen to 29 sen, Fintec was flat at 7.5 sen, while Key ASIZ increased 1.5 sen and QES added 2.5 sen to 39 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 38.48 points to 11,429.03, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 35.29 points to 11,170.53, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 58.26 points weaker at 12,834.32.

The FBM 70 jumped 88.96 points to 14,713.18 and the FBM ACE increased 129.60 points to 10,799.85.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 245.70 points to 14,810.44, the Plantation Index declined 11.26 points to 7,173.20, and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.35 of-a-point to 170.45. ― Bernama