KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today, lifted by gains in selected blue chips.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.17 points better at 1,693 from Friday's close of 1,688.83.
The index opened 5.09 points firmer at 1,693.92.
A dealer said market sentiment in the local market was lifted by the strong gains in US stocks.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 gained 1.1 per cent, the highest daily increase so far in February while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 per cent.
On the broader market, gainers edged losers 370 to 238, while 337 counters were unchanged, 921untraded and 33 others suspended.
Turnover was at 1.17 billion shares worth RM491.70 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM9.48, Public Bank rose eight sen to RM25 and Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM8.54.
Of the most actives, Sapura Energy was half-a-sen better at 31 sen, while Borneo Oil and Eduspec were flat at 4.5 sen and three sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was 30.05 points better at 11,780.32, the FBMT 100 Index increased 31.38 points to 11,644.28 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 33.82 points to 11,697.42.
The FBM Ace Index increased 44.78 points to 4,691.37 and the FBM 70 climbed 49.04 points to 14,077.23.
Sectorwise, the Financial Services Index was 25.71 points higher at 17,658.28, the Plantation Index fell 10.84 points to 7,324.59 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.02 of-a-point higher at 163.15. — Bernama
