KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 ― Bursa Malaysia remained on a high note at mid-morning, driven by continued buying interest in selected heavyweights, led by the financial services and healthcare counters.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 7.34 points to 1,594.70 from 1,587.36 at yesterday's close.
The barometer index opened 0.93 of-a-point higher at 1,588.29.
Among the financial services counters, Public Bank rose six sen to RM4.73, Hong Leong Bank advanced 30 sen to RM20.50, Hong Leong Financial bagged 10 sen to RM19.70, RHB added three sen to RM5.99 and CIMB Group increased one sen to RM5.34.
As for the healthcare counters, Top Glove improved eight sen to RM2, IHH Healthcare gained six sen to RM6.26 and Hartalega ticked up 10 sen to RM4.95.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 393 to 340, while 368 counters were unchanged, 1,135 untraded and 35 others suspended.
Total turnover stood at 1.24 billion worth RM652.87 million.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.94, both Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga Nasional were four sen higher at RM9.64 and RM9.04, respectively, Sime Darby Plantation added three sen to RM5, Petronas Gas perked 12 sen to RM16.78, while Press Metal Aluminium fell five sen to RM6.15.
Of the actives, Pappajack increased 8.5 sen to 38.5 sen, Widad, TWL and SMTrack rose half-a-sen to 37 sen, 7.5 sen and 8.5 sen, respectively, while Metronic was flat at two sen.
On the index board, FBM 70 increased 42.21 points to 13,895.68, FBMT 100 Index bagged 47.06 points to 11,113.17, FBM Emas Index recovered 46.47 points to 11,433.79, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 45.32 points to 11,988.67 and FBM ACE improved 23.41 points to 5,642.23.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.30 of-a-point to 205.41, while the Plantation Index gained 5.33 points to 7,958.31 and the Financial Services Index advanced 97.89 points to 16,876.48. ― Bernama
