KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 ― Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today, lifted by buying in selected heavyweights, led by the financial services counters.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.76 points to 1,589.72 from yesterday's close of 1,576.96.

The bellwether index opened 5.30 points firmer at 1,582.26.

Market breadth stayed positive with gainers leading losers 482 to 322, while 373 counters were unchanged, 1,081 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.12 billion units worth RM807.43 million.

Bursa heavyweights Maybank added seven sen to RM8.79, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.36, Petronas Chemicals perked 10 sen to RM9.24, CIMB rose three sen to RM5.53 and IHH Healthcare expanded four sen to RM6.34.

As for the actives, DNex strengthened five sen to RM1.17, while SMTrack lost two sen to 23.5 sen and MSM Malaysia declined 19 sen to 93 sen.

On the index board, FBM ACE advanced by 71.97 points to 6,098.12, FBM 70 widened by 110.68 points to 13,497.74, FBM Emas Index inched up 87.49 points to 11,330.99, FBMT 100 Index was 88.79 points higher at 11,009.12, and FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 110.84 points to 12,034.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 78.41 points to 16,346.74, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.97 of-a-point to 209.08, while the Plantation Index added 106.33 points to 7,886.56. ― Bernama