KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in the positive territory at mid-afternoon, bolstered by buying interest in selected heavyweights.

At 3.08pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 6.79 points to 1,393.06 from yesterday's close of 1,386.27. The key index opened 6.65 points higher at 1,392.92.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 472 to 285, while 344 counters were unchanged, 1,249 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.63 billion units worth RM946.72 million.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals and Press Metal added one sen each to RM8.51 and RM4.18, respectively, and IHH Healthcare increased 9.0 sen to RM5.95, while Maybank shed two sen to RM8.50, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.19 and CIMB slipped four sen to RM5.26.

Of the actives, Careplus rose one sen to 42.5 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated advanced 6.5 sen to 28.5 sen, Widad bagged 2.5 sen to 44.5 sen, Top Glove declined one sen to 73 sen and Supermax fell three sen to 87.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 59.75 points to 9,923.81, the FBM 70 surged 112.34 points to 11,944.88, the FBMT 100 Index earned 57.47 points to 9,671.30, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 110.07 points to 9,963.21, and the FBM ACE climbed 73.23 points to 4,755.0.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 46.86 points to 15,870.04, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.49 of-a-point to 170.04, the Plantation Index soared 115.08 points to 6,520.54, and the Energy Index perked 2.45 points to 667.49. ― Bernama