KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session firmer, spurred by persistent buying activity in most of the index-linked counters.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 8.21 points to 1,576.34 from 1,568.13 at yesterday's close.

The key index which opened 9.34 points higher at 1,577.47 at 9am, moved between 1,575.40 and 1,582.16 throughout the morning session.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers beating losers 553 to 462, while 416 counters were unchanged, 548 untraded and 26 others suspended.

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Trading volume stood at 9.88 billion shares worth RM4.83 billion.

An analyst said the local bourse was tracking most regional markets as well as the positive performance in the US stock market as well as the better Brent crude price which stayed over the US$45 per barrel mark.

On the Index listing, FBM ACE recorded a 2.96 per cent improvement to 10,432.88 points followed by the energy which rose 2.40 per cent to 775.38 points.

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However, due to persistent heavy buying activity in selected healthcare stocks, the healthcare index eased 0.80 per cent on profit-taking.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM7.51, Top Glove rose 14 sen to RM28.08 and Hartalega increased two sen to RM19.82.

Public Bank, Tenaga and IHH recovered six sen each to RM16.74, RM11.00 and RM5.30, respectively.

Of the most active, XOX and Borneo Oil gained half-a-sen each to 26.5 sen and 5.5 sen while Niche Capital rose 9.5 sen to 21 sen.

Among the top gainers, Upa rose 62 sen to RM2.70, while HLT and Nestle increased 60 sen each to RM3.05 and RM140.00 respectively.

For the top losers, Carlsberg dropped 36 sen to RM23.20, Adventa declined 31 sen to RM4.77 and Bursa Malaysia shed 20 sen to RM10.40.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index edged up 53.93 points to 11,395.11, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 75.47 points firmer at 13,553.63 and the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 52.04 points to 11,195.33.

The FBM 70 gained 45.04 points to 14,946.81 and the FBM ACE soared 300.80 points to 10,432.88.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index accumulated 2.02 points to 140.62, the Financial Services Index went up 40.09 points to 12,896.20 and the Plantation Index climbed 46.74 points to 7,011.98. — Bernama