KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 ― The key index remained higher at mid-morning, lifted by buying interest in recovery-themed stocks and the energy sector, with the latter likely to benefit from firmer crude oil prices.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.89 points to 1,590.02.

The index opened 0.81 of-a-point better at 1,586.94 compared with 1,586.13 at yesterday’s close.

However, market breadth turned negative with losers outpacing gainers 547 to 380, while 425 counters were unchanged, 797 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 2.19 billion units worth RM1.29 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the market should position itself into recovery-themed stocks at least for this week as the number of Covid-19 cases dropped below 3,000 level yesterday.

For stocks in focus, trading interest may be seen in the energy sector with firmer crude oil prices.

On the recovery-themed sectors, construction, building materials and gaming sectors are likely to be focused.

"Also, we like the consumer electronics, furniture and plantation sectors for their high earnings certainty,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM8.01, PBBank advanced one sen to RM4.10, PChem lost six sen to RM7.5 while PMetal reduced four sen to RM8.61.

As for active counters, Dialog erased nine sen to RM3.06, Genetec eased 17 sen to RM4.22, and OCR and VIS were flat at 25.5 sen and RM1.47, respectively.

Among losers, MPI lost 38 sen to RM36.52, KESM down 22 sen to RM16.22, SAM declined 21 sen to RM7.15, and UNISEM inched down 19 sen to RM8.49.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 16.22 points to 11,575.91, the FBMT 100 Index added 15.61 points to 11,300.44 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 6.27 points to 13,048.49.

The FBM 70 erased 25.39 points to 15,115.89 and the FBM ACE declined 78.09 points to 10,736.90.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 78.22 points to 14,830.96, the Plantation Index gained 9.86 points to 7,157.58, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.38 of-a-point to 179.52. ― Bernama