KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 ― The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was higher at mid-afternoon, driven by continuous buying interest in selected heavyweights.

At 3pm, the barometer index increased 3.33 points to 1,414.65 from yesterday's close of 1,411.32.

The index opened 2.49 points lower at 1,408.83.

On the broader market, however, losers trounced gainers 417 to 272, while 407 counters were unchanged, 1,180 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.25 billion units worth RM619.31 million.

OANDA Asia Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said Asian equities were treading water today, moving from unchanged to modestly higher, despite negative cues from Wall Street overnight.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose one sen to RM8.62 and RM4.38, respectively, Petronas Chemicals added 13 sen to RM8.01, IHH Healthcare gained three sen to RM6.45, and CIMB stayed flat at RM5.09.

Of the actives, Metronic increased 2.5 sen to 9.5 sen, TWL and Jade Marvel eased half-a-sen each to six sen and 84 sen, respectively, and Yong Tai and Widad stayed flat at six sen and 37 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 13.57 points to 10,037.17, the FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 19.42 points to 10,059.35, the FBM 70 slipped 2.15 points to 12,0035.25, the FBMT 100 Index improved 17.32 points to 9,803.29, and the FBM ACE eased 10.53 points to 4,528.45.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 13.71 points to 16,033.91, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.76 of-a-point higher at 167.47, and the Plantation Index weakened 25.52 points to 6,661.18. ― Bernama