KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Bursa Malaysia continued to stay in the green at mid-afternoon as recovery-theme sectors such as gaming and aviation came back on investors’ radar following the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared earlier gains but still went up 3.43 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 1,573.89 from 1,570.46 at Monday’s closing.

The key index opened 3.21 points firmer at 1,573.67.

On the broader market, losers pipped gainers by 567 to 557, while 435 counters were unchanged, 638 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume stood at 8.42 billion units worth RM3.60 billion.

Gains in the 30 FBM KLCI constituents were led by Genting Bhd, which rose 17 sen to RM4.65, followed by Genting Malaysia which increased 11 sen to RM2.87.

Petronas Gas accumulated 28 sen to RM16.36, while Maxis and Digi improved six sen each to RM4.72 and RM3.80, respectively.

Following the vaccine roll-out, rubber glove-linked heavyweights continued to suffer selling pressure.

Top Glove erased eight sen to RM5.70, Hartalega lost 12 sen to RM11.52 and Supermax was one sen easier at RM5.52.

Meanwhile, the most actively traded stocks included Techna-X which inched up one sen to 19 sen.

AirAsia X added one sen to nine sen, its sister company AirAsia Group strengthened 10.5 sen to 92 sen, newly listed Mobilia was 39 sen firmer at 62 sen while DGB Asia was flat at nine sen.

Among the top gainers, Pimpinan Ehsan climbed 43 sen to RM1.92, Nestle and Dutch Lady improved 30 sen each to RM135.30 and RM34.90 respectively, Heineken advanced 28 sen to RM25.00 and Frontken was 27 sen higher at RM5.14.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 45.58 points to 11,593.17, the FBMT 100 Index rose 41.11 points to 11,271.85, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 47.29 points higher at 13,029.50.

The FBM 70 bagged 119.86 points to 15,410.48 but the FBM ACE fell 48.25 points to 11,261.87.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 9.59 points better at 7,141.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index eked out a small gain of 0.63 of-a-point to 181.35 while the Financial Services Index retreated 6.57 points to 14,758.23.

Healthcare Index dwindled 14.96 points to 3,384.32. — Bernama