KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 ― Persistent buying interest in selected heavyweights, especially in trade and services counters, lifted Bursa Malaysia to remain higher at mid-morning today.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.15 points firmer at 1,784.90 after opening 4.59 points better at 1,784.34.
The benchmark index closed at 1,779.75 yesterday.
On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 397 to 251 with 341 unchanged, 1,881 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Volume stood at 972.80 million units valued at RM532.17 million.
Of the trade and services-linked heavyweights, IHH Healthcare bagged 13 sen to RM5.99 and Maxis rose seven sen to RM5.69.
Petronas Gas increased 24 sen to RM18.86, Public Bank gained eight sen to RM24.34 and Press Metal Aluminium was nine sen better at RM4.78.
Among actives, Sino Hua-an advanced two sen to 31 sen, Frontken added five sen to 65 sen, Ucrest and Iris edged up one sen each to 41 sen and 17.5 sen respectively while Borneo Oil was unchanged at six sen.
Far East led the gainers list by bagging 50 sen to RM13, followed by BAT which improved 38 sen to RM34.16, as Heng Yuan increased 16 sen to RM7.25, with IJM Plantations 15 sen firmer at RM2.40. Scientex went up 12 sen to RM8.12.
The FBM Emas Index perked 44.96 points to 12,630.26, the FBMT 100 Index improved 42.42 points to 12,413.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 51.73 points to 12,760.43, the FBM 70 jumped 77.01 points to 15,467.63 and the FBM Ace Index inched up 38.79 points to 5,437.12.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 28.36 points to 7,655.36, the Finance Index garnered 38.12 points to 17,507.22 and the Industrial Index was up 21.39 points at 3,284.46. ― Bernama
