KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 ― Bursa Malaysia remained higher at midday today driven by persistent buying activities in selected heavyweights.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.88 points to 1,596.63 from yesterday’s close of 1,593.75.

The market bellwether was 4.64 points firmer at 1,598.39 and moved between 1,594.13 and 1,599.44 during the morning session.

However, on the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 418 to 370, while 419 counters were unchanged, 1,066 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 1.66 billion units worth RM905.86 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects investors to trade on a more cautious stance while focusing on recovery-theme sectors such as consumer, banking, construction and building material.

"Also, we expect the plantation sector to continue charting higher territories amid the elevated crude palm oil futures price and also traders may avoid the technology sector,” the firm said.

Among the market heavyweights, both Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added 10 sen to RM8.90 and RM10.40 respectively, while Public Bank, IHH Healthcare and Press Metal were flat at RM4.65, RM6.52 and RM6.55 respectively.

Of the actives, Vizione and MNC Wireless were up one sen to 11 sen and 3.5 sen respectively, Tanco added 2.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at four sen while Fitters lost one sen to 13 sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index increased 11.38 points to 11,105.66, the FBM Emas Index was 13.16 points firmer at 11,463.14, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 15.52 points to 12,116.05, the FBM 70 declined 21.2 points to 13,800.92, and the FBM ACE erased 44.71 points to 5,765.18.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 97.96 points to 16,676.36, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.09 points to 216.27 while the Plantation Index slumped 4.21 points to 8,603.17. ― Bernama