KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 ― Gains in Hartalega and Top Glove helped to boost Bursa Malaysia higher at mid-afternoon.

At 3.10pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.34 points higher at 1,548.05 from yesterday’s close of 1,544.71.

The market bellwether opened 2.32 of-a-point lower at 1,542.39.

On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 468 to 410, while 443 counters were unchanged, 900 untraded, and 67 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.45 billion units valued at RM1.72 billion.

Heavyweights Hartalega inched up 25 sen to RM7.55, Top Glove rose 10 sen to RM4.33, Sime Darby increased seven sen to RM2.20 and IHH was four sen higher at RM5.66.

Conversely, PetChem lost seven sen to RM8.05 and Genting Malaysia declined four sen to RM2.82.

Of the actives, newly-listed Nestcon increased 4.5 sen to 32.5 sen and Serba Dinamik recovered one sen to 33.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 33.25 points to 11,250.59, the FBMT 100 Index increased 32.84 points to 10,970.81, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 58.93 points to 12,306.41.

The FBM ACE was 89.93 points better at 7,085.47 and the FBM 70 added 79.49 points to 14,552.72.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 7.63 points to 15,164.60, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.41 of-a-point higher at 187.36, and the Plantation Index increased 20.47 points to 6,451.50. ― Bernama