KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia stayed higher at mid-day today in line with regional peers, as sentiment remained positive over the strong overnight performance of Wall Street and European stocks.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.13 points higher at  1,568.36 from yesterday’s close of 1,566.23.

The benchmark index opened 1.87 points better at 1,568.10 and moved between 1,567.87 and 1,572.65 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 402 to 314 with 374 counters unchanged, 886 untraded and 14 others suspended.

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Turnover amounted to 1.74 billion shares worth RM920.58 million.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.04 per cent to 22,438.43, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.01 per cent to 26,504.95, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.49 per cent to 2,078.25, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.60 per cent to 3,134.83.

A dealer said Asian shares took cue from US stocks which ended at a more-than-three-week high on Tuesday on largely upbeat corporate earnings reports, while Britain and the European Union were seen making headway on a Brexit deal ahead of a leaders’ summit.

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However,  gains were pared by US-China tensions over Hong Kong, it said.

Locally, Bursa Malaysia equities ended the morning session with buying support seen in selected heavyweight stocks.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga gained six sen to RM13.76, Petronas Chemicals improved one sen to RM7.30 and  IHH Healthcare bagged three sen to RM5.66.

Public Bank shed two sen to RM19.24, while Maybank was flat at RM8.51.

Of the most actives, Sapura Energy added one to 28 sen, KNM Group edged up half-a-sen to 45 sen and I-Stone improved 2.5 sen to 25 sen

NetX Holdings and Bumi Armada were flat at two sen and 42 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index increased 23.18 points to 11,179.42, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 24.91 points to 10,993.73 and the FBM 70 rose 72.78 points to 14,142.12.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 30.42 points higher at 11,799.75, while the FBM Ace surged 71.36 points to 4,711.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 12 points to 15,157.93, the Plantation Index rose 13.72 points to 6,648.83, but the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.05 of a point easier at 151.38. ― Bernama