KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 ― Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-day today, spurred by buying interest in selected heavyweights mainly in the financial services counters.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.78 points or 0.30 per cent better at 1,581.73 from yesterday's close of 1,576.95.
The index opened 1.65 points firmer at 1,578.60 and moved between 1,570.90 and 1,583.27 throughout the morning session.
However, market breadth was close to mixed, with losers outpacing gainers 379 to 335, while 338 counters remained unchanged, 953 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.38 billion shares worth RM870.98 million.
An analyst said Bursa’s performance was boosted by the spillover of positive sentiment on the local front, specifically the infrastructure sector following the revival of Bandar Malaysia project, despite tracking a mixed performance from its regional peers.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the smaller caps stocks and lower liners staged a pullback as investors locked in their recent gains.
“We think the retracement is healthy, premised on the overbought condition,” it said in a note.
Banking heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.56, Public Bank rose 16 sen to RM19.16, CIMB gained two sen to RM5.24, Hong Leong Bank increased 30 sen to RM17.40 and RHB Bank improved four sen to RM5.69.
Other heavyweights, Top Glove improved 13 sen to RM4.79. Hartalega gained 11 sen to RM5.33, IHH Healthcare added nine sen to RM5.54.
Among the actives, Ekovest gave up half-a-sen to 85.5 sen, Foundpac declined 5.5 sen to 73.5 sen and KNM fell 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen.
Top gainers, F&N rose 54 sen to RM33.88, Heineken added 40 sen to RM26.90 and KESM was 38 sen higher at RM9.43.
The FBM Emas Index firmed up 25.64 points to 11,255.01, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 10.58 points to 11,893.30 while the FBMT 100 Index bagged 26.46 points to 11,053.61.
Meanwhile, the FBM Ace eased 28.15 points to 5,025.92 but the FBM 70 rose 5.47 points to 14,080.77.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 70.10 points to 15,347.39, the Plantation Index increased 23.86 points to 7,566.43 but the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.04 of-a-point to 152.43. ― Bernama
