KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in positive territory at mid-morning as buying interest intensified in selected heavyweights, led by Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd and Maxis Bhd.

Press Metal rose 10 sen to RM5.18, Axiata increased seven sen to RM3.24 and Maxis was up five sen to RM3.63. The three stocks lifted the composite index by a total contribution of 3.213 points.

At 11.09am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 4.46 points or 0.29 per cent to 1,553.87 from yesterday’s close of 1,549.41.

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The benchmark index opened 2.97 points higher at 1,552.38.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 441 to 232, while 388 counters were unchanged, 1,220 untraded, and 22 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 968.89 million units worth RM559.06 million.

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Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.98, Public Bank rose two sen to RM4.59, IHH Healthcare and CIMB gained one sen each to RM6.59 and RM5.05 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals fell two sen to RM10.

Of the actives, Techna-X and Widad were flat at 5.5 sen and 36 sen respectively, Serba Dinamik added half-a-sen to 15 sen and Annum lifted 3.5 sen to 49.5 sen, while MNC Wireless inched down half-a-sen to two sen.

On the index board, FBM ACE improved 20.22 points to 5,308.39, FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 54.68 points to 11,525.40, FBM Emas Index was up 44.17 points to 11,090.44, FBMT 100 Index strengthened 40.75 points to 10,762.08, and FBM 70 advanced 90.43 points to 13,186.30.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.72 points higher at 198.81, the Financial Services Index added 36.49 points to 16,630.20, while the Plantation Index dropped 48.04 points to 8,189.29. ― Bernama