KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in positive territory at mid-afternoon, backed by persistent buying in healthcare stocks.
At 3pm, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 5.10 points to 1,583.43 from yesterday's close of 1,578.33.
The index opened 0.34 of-a-point higher at 1,578.67.
The overall market breadth was positive as gainers led losers 555 to 402, while 460 counters were unchanged,761 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 3.52 billion worth RM2.06 billion.
Healthcare counters Hartalega soared 23 sen to RM9.48, Supermax and Comfort Gloves rose three sen each to RM4.90 and RM2.27, respectively, Top Glove bagged eight sen to RM5.14, Careplus gained nine sen to RM2.32 and Kossan Rubber perked 12 sen to RM4.14.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.23. Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.11 and PetChem rose eight sen to RM8.27.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics and UCrest bagged one sen each to 9.5 sen and 35.5 sen, respectively, while Vizione fell 1.5 sen to 23.0 sen and TA Win deducted half-a-sen to 16 sen.
Among the gainers, Widetec improved 49 sen to RM2.15, while KLK and Timberwell soared 30 sen each to RM22.50 and RM1, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 43.26 points to 11,639.78, the FBMT 100 Index was 38.28 points higher at 11,294.01, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 49.98 points to 13,043.82, the FBM ACE soared 69.83 points to 8,345.59 and the FBM 70 rose 59.05 points to 15,263.91.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 45.78 points to 14,814.41, the Plantation Index improved 77.76 points to 7,070.12, and the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 1.84 points to 200.52. ― Bernama
