KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Bursa Malaysia extended earlier gains at mid-morning, with the key index remaining in positive territory as buying-spree in banking heavyweights continued.
At 11.11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 27.43 points or 1.66 per cent to 1,681.82, after moving between 1,660.49 and 1,682.94 this morning.
Banking counters Public Bank soared RM1.84 to RM22.04, Maybank bagged 26 sen to RM8.64, CIMB gained 10 sen to RM4.38, Hong Leong Financial advanced 58 sen to RM18.58, RHB increased eight sen to RM5.93, while Hong Leong went up 14 sen to RM19.04.
Hefty gains by banking heavyweights helped push the Financial Services Index stronger by 616.54 points to 15,935.58.
Among other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals earned 18 sen to RM7.84, while Tenaga shed six sen to RM10.44, Hartalega lost 32 sen to RM14.04 and Top Glove was flat at RM6.99.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 588 to 506, while 454 counters were unchanged, 589 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Volume stood at 4.47 billion units worth RM2.24 billion.
Among the actives, Bumi Armada bagged 2.5 sen to 38.5 sen, Sapura Energy and Sino Hua-An added one sen each to 13.5 sen and 13 sen, respectively, Nexgram inched up half-a-sen to 5.5 sen while XOX slipped half-a-sen to 11 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index surged 160.09 points to 12,082.96, the FBMT 100 Index soared 161.47 points to 11,844.38, the FBM 70 increased 85.9 points to 5,423.73, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 5.01 points to 13,486.
The FBM ACE erased 108.85 points to 10,931.06.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.25 point to 177.63 and the Plantation Index bagged 45.95 points to 7,400.96. — Bernama
