KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Bursa Malaysia extended its uptrend at mid-morning on continued buying support in index-linked counters, led by Public Bank and Hartalega.

Public Bank rose four sen to RM4.24 and Hartalega bagged 19 sen to RM6.21. Gains in both counters lifted the composite index up to combined 2.565 points.

At 11.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 8.46 points to 1,606.74 from last Friday’s close of 1,598.28.

The bellwether index opened 4.61 points higher at 1,602.89.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 545 to 375, while 438 counters were unchanged, 931 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.09 billion units worth RM1.06 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM8.31 and IHH Healthcare increased six sen to RM6.78, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.75, and Press Metal fell one sen to RM6.18.

Among the actives, Tiger Synergy and KNM added half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen and 23 sen, respectively, Macpie rose 2.5 sen to 13 sen and Bintai Kinden gained 6.5 sen to 44.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 56.59 points to 11,825.46, the FBMT 100 Index improved 57.65 points to 11,464.39, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 47.62 points to 12,924.63, the FBM 70 ticked up 67.35 points to 15,511.91, and the FBM ACE firmed 54.54 points to 7,240.85.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 87.85 points to 15,793.31, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.36 of-a-point to 213.30, and the Plantation Index climbed 18.64 points to 7,058.68. — Bernama