KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Bursa Malaysia has maintained its positive note at midday as sentiments improved, especially with regards to the tourism and consumer-related sectors.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.94 points to 1,600.91 from 1,598.97 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 2.34 points easier at 1,596.63 and moved between 1,596.63 and 1,603.69 throughout the morning trading session.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 509 to 329, while 427 counters were unchanged, 1,037 untraded and 44 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 1.57 billion worth RM1.13 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the index may break above the 1,600-threshold, trading in the 1,590-1,605 range today.

"The full reopening of borders between Malaysia and Singapore on April 1 should improve sentiments somewhat, especially with regards to tourism and consumer-related sectors,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost three sen to RM8.95, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.65 and RM6.54, respectively, Petronas Chemicals rose one sen to RM9.63 and CIMB increased seven sen to RM5.34.

The most active consumer products and services counters were Tafi Industries and Farm Fresh, both of which gained three sen to 80 sen and RM1.69, respectively, while Capital A added half-a-sen to 66.5 sen and Cheetah picked up one sen to 19.5 sen.

On the index board, FBM 70 gained 98.35 points to 13,799.77, FBM ACE went up 41.87 points to 5,634.06, FBM Emas Index rose 31.37 points to 11,442.13, FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 60.44 points to 12,064.87 and FBMT 100 Index added 28.88 points to 11,128.26.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index perked 0.99 of-a-point to 205.47 and the Plantation Index recovered 31.12 points to 8,064.98, while the Financial Services Index fell 34.61 points to 16,743.57. ― Bernama