KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 ― Bursa Malaysia turned slightly higher at mid-afternoon on the back of renewed buying interest in selected heavyweights amid cheaper stock prices, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.35 points to 1,495.85 from yesterday’s close of 1,495.50.

The market bellwether opened 4.07 points lower at 1,495.31.

Market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 412 to 344, while 382 counters were unchanged, 1,054 untraded, and 10 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.59 billion units worth RM1 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals added 4.0 sen to RM8.5, Tenaga Nasional pushed up 8.0 sen to RM9.47, Maybank and Public Bank remained unchanged at RM8.81 and RM4.29, respectively, while CIMB declined 3.0 sen to RM5.69.

Of the actives, Velesto Energy ticked up 1.5 sen to 20 sen, Revenue Group expanded 5.5 sen to 67 sen, Yew Lee Pacific and Zen Tech International climbed half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen, respectively, while Dolphin International reduced half-a-sen to 10 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was higher by 6.97 points to 10,810.43, the FBMT 100 Index edged up 6.06 points to 10,504.31 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index earned 10.27 points to 11,059.93.

The FBM 70 Index garnered 23.30 points to 13,477.60 and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 14.53 points to 5,432.37.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 20.90 points to 16,495.93, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 0.14 of-a-point to 187.72, the Plantation Index slipped 39.63 points to 6,829.59, while the Energy Index rose 10.28 points to 833.92. ― Bernama