KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning, supported by expectations of a bullish earnings season and the positive sentiment from Malaysia’s political environment.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.32 points or 0.35 per cent to 1,523.35 from Friday’s close of 1,518.03.  

The market bellwether opened 1.96 points higher at 1,519.99.

Market breadth was also positive with gainers outpacing losers 478 to 348, while 373 counters were unchanged, 1,009 untraded, and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.83 billion shares worth RM773.01 million.

Heavyweights Maybank and Public Bank gained two sen to RM8.14 and RM3.94, respectively, while CIMB, Sime Darby Plantation and IOI rose one sen each to RM4.65, RM3.93 and RM3.77, respectively.

Meanwhile, Hartalega lost nine sen to RM6.97 and Top Glove dropped three sen to RM3.77.

Among the actives, Advance Synergy decreased 3.5 sen to 15.5 sen, MMAG decreased one sen to 12 sen, Advance Information erased 20 sen to 30.5 sen and Fintech Global was half-a-sen lower at two sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 43.61 points to 11,151.57, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 43.98 points to 10,864.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 46.03 points to 12,263.54, the FBM 70 went up 82.99 points to 14,681.84, while the FBM ACE was 9.44 points easier at 7,136.92. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 10.28 points to 6,426.66, the Financial Services Index rose 39.83 points to 14,882.70, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.14 points to 189.40. — Bernama