KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― Bursa Malaysia was slightly higher at mid-morning, supported by sustained buying interest across the board.

At 11am, the key index gained 3.26 points to 1,405.15, compared to yesterday's close of 1,401.89.

The market bellwether opened 5.5 points higher at 1,407.39.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 378 to 246, while 349 counters were unchanged, 1,428 untraded and 57 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 788.79 million units worth RM464.46 million.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals increased three sen to RM8.40, and both CIMB and IHH Healthcare were five sen higher at RM5.16 and RM5.98, respectively.

Meanwhile, Maybank and TNB were flat at RM8.56 and RM8.40, respectively, Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.24 and Hong Leong Bank shed four sen to RM20.40.

Of the actives, PT Resources advanced 3.5 sen to 45 sen, NWP and SNS Network both edged up half-a-sen to 25 sen and 27.5 sen, respectively, Sapura Energy was flat at four sen and Top Glove eased 1.5 sen to 57.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded by 24.97 points to 10,034.42, the FBM 70 went up 29.49 points to 12,196.14, and the FBMT 100 Index widened 22.89 points to 9,783.40.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was higher by 22.64 points to 10,096.41, while the FBM ACE improved 32.3 points to 4,688.2.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index perked 8.32 points to 678.64, the Plantation Index climbed 47.23 points to 6,506.31, the Financial Services Index grew 20.47 points to 15,944.09, and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.58 of-a-point to 170.73. ― Bernama