KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — Bursa Malaysia was slightly higher at mid-afternoon, with the key index remaining in positive territory despite mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights, amid mixed sentiment on regional stock markets, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.58 points to 1,502.31 from Monday’s close of 1,496.73.

The index opened 2.70 points better at 1,499.43.

On the broader market, however, losers led gainers 511 versus 480, while 418 counters were unchanged, 795 untraded, and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.95 billion units worth RM1.87 billion.

A dealer said Asian bourses remained mixed as investors were closely monitoring a series of global economic events, including the US Treasury auctions and US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due later in the session.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added 4.0 sen to RM8.04, TNB went up 2.0 sen to RM9.70, IHH Healthcare increased 1.0 sen to RM5.80, while Public Bank went down 1.0 sen to RM3.95 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.

Among the actives, Dagang NeXchange improved 2.5 sen to 84 sen, Ta Win earned half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, M3 Technologies perked up 1.5 sen to 7.0 sen, while Serba Dinamik was flat at 40.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 36.70 points higher at 11,035.04, the FBMT 100 Index gained 39.63 points to 10,746.77, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 59.30 points to 12,131.49, the FBM 70 bagged 53.12 points to 14,648.06, and the FBM ACE advanced 42.12 points to 7,236.33.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 35.25 points to 14,762.18, the Plantation Index secured 32.29 points for 6,133.63, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.53 of-a-point to 189.85. — Bernama