KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning today on sustained buying interest in selected heavyweights.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 7.47 points to 1,580.98 from Wednesday’s close of 1,573.51.

The index opened 6.46 points higher at 1,579.97.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 523 to 374, while 419 counters were unchanged, 808 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.40 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.23, Petronas Chemicals jumped 10 sen to RM8.10, TNB strengthened 16 sen to RM10.28, Press Metal and Top Glove expanded 12 sen each to RM10.02 and RM4.64, respectively.

Meanwhile, Maybank, IHH Healthcare and CIMB all shed one sen to RM8.24, RM5.31 and RM4.33, respectively.

As for the active counters, Dagang Nexchange, Berjaya Land and Zelan increased three sen each to 94 sen, 43.5 sen and 14 sen, respectively, while MCT was four sen higher at 33.5 sen and Berjaya Corp inched down half-a-sen to 45 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 46.02 points to 11,660.58, the FBM 70 increased 28.11 points to 15,501.68, the FBMT 100 went up 44.88 points to 11,326.65, the FBM ACE put on 21.64 points to 10,087.44, and the FBM Emas Shariah rose 58.25 points to 12,906.42.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 16.72 points to 15,237.71, the Plantation Index was 17.34 points higher at 7,028.85, and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.36 point to 192.50. — Bernama