KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — Bursa Malaysia stayed higher at mid-morning as buying support continued for most indices, with the benchmark index propped up mainly by Petronas Chemicals Group (PetChem).

At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.79 points to 1,435.55 from Tuesday’s close of 1,428.76.

PetChem lifted the composite index by 3.4 points, rising 25 sen to RM8.55 with 1.76 million shares changing hands.

The benchmark index opened 1.26 points higher at 1,430.02.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 478 to 196, while 315 counters were unchanged, 1,299 untraded, and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 973.98 million units worth RM426.32 million.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM8.61, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional Bhd added one sen each to RM4.41 and RM7.90, respectively, and IHH Healthcare and CIMB Group eased two sen each to RM6.40 and RM5.08, respectively.

Of the actives, Metronic Global was half-a-sen higher at nine sen, Dagang NeXchange and Hibiscus Petroleum perked up two sen each to 75 sen and 86 sen, respectively, MMAG Holdings fell half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, and G3 Global was flat at four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 63.95 points to 10,195.98, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 84.63 points to 10,301.07, the FBM 70 was 132.83 points higher at 12,261.26, the FBMT 100 Index widened 61.36 points to 9,957.27, and the FBM ACE improved 92.73 points to 4,685.45.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 46.57 points to 6,807.70, the Financial Services Index gained 40.46 points to 16,045.87, the Energy Index was 9.72 points higher at 635.23, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.48 points to 173.40. — Bernama