KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Bursa Malaysia turned higher at mid-morning, thanks to buying support in the index-linked counters led by Top Glove.

At 11.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.67 points to 1,567.41 from Monday’s close of 1,560.25.

Top Glove surged RM1.22 to RM23.64 after 14.38 million shares changed hands.

On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 478 to 377, while 373 counters were unchanged, 783 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 3.95 billion shares worth RM2.18 billion.

Nevertheless, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the regional markets would rather be muted today due to the lack of strong catalysts in view of mixed overnight closing on Wall Street with the DJI Average losing 86 points as concerns over the latest US Covid-19 stimulus package linger.

On the contrary, tech-heavy Nasdaq up 110 points to almost the 11,130 mark.

“At home, we believe the choppy glove counters share price will continue to affect the performance of the FBM KLCI. Thus, we expect the benchmark index to oscillate within the 1,550-1,565 range today,” it said in a note today.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased three sen to RM7.78, while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals fell six sen each to RM17.74 and RM6.21, respectively.

Tenaga rose six sen to RM11.18 and Hartalega earned 86 sen to RM16.42.

Among the most actives, Borneo Oil shed half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, XOX eased 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Niche Capital bagged five sen to 33.5 sen, while Sanichi was flat at 7.5 sen.

Ace market debutant Optimax rose 41 sen to 71 sen after 90.16 million shares changing hands.

The eye specialist services plans to use 49.31 per cent of the RM21 million raised through the initial public offering for capital expenditure, 16.76 per cent for repayment of borrowings, 16.79 per cent for working capital and 17.14 per cent for listing expenses.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 57.27 points to 11,165.02, the FBM Emas Shariah Index chalked up 128.32 points to 12,969.9 and the FBMT 100 Index gained 54.87 points to 10,991.89.

The FBM 70 earned 102.64 points to 14,129.65 and the FBM ACE surged 160.9 points to 10,021.25.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 37.83 points for 13,298.89, but the Plantation Index rose 12.0 points to 7,058.07 and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.43 of-a-point to 140.68. — Bernama