KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Bursa Malaysia stayed in positive territory at mid-afternoon, supported by consistent buying in selected heavyweights, said an analyst.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased by 0.71 of-a-point to 1,643.25 from Tuesday’s close of 1,642.54.

The benchmark index opened 1.67 points firmer at 1,644.21.

Advancers surpassed decliners 488 to 448 on the broader market, with 523 counters unchanged, 1,044 untraded, and 15 suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.31 billion units valued at RM1.49 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM10.64, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare gained one sen each to RM4.56 and RM7.24, respectively, CIMB Group climbed four sen to RM8.20 and Tenaga Nasional fell four sen to RM14.42.

As for the active counters, Ingenieur Gudang edged up half-a-sen to 5.5, Capital A increased 1.5 points to 99 sen, MY E.G. Services bagged one sen to 89.5 sen and Dataprep shed two sen to 15 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved by 16.32 points to 12,382.59, the FBM 70 Index garnered 66.18 points to 17,896.48, the FBMT 100 Index increased 16.50 points to 12,088.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 6.94 points to 12,307.41.

Meanwhile, the FBM ACE Index inched down 2.76 points to 5,099.15.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index slid 0.94 of-a-point to 858.39, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased by 0.14 of-a-point to 177.14

The Financial Services Index advanced 69.57 points to 19,524.09, and the Plantation Index expanded 12.94 points to 7,289.80. — Bernama