THE FBM KLCI stayed higher at midmorning supported by persistent buying activities in selected heavyweights, mainly the utilities as well as telecommunication and media sectors. 

YTL Corporation gained 18 sen to RM2.68, YTL Power International edged up nine sen to RM4.15 and CelcomDigi was four sen better at RM4.38. These counters pulled the composite index up by a combined 5.28 points.  

At 11 am, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 4.40 points to 1,552.00 from yesterday’s close of 1,547.60.

This morning, the benchmark index opened 2.08 of-a-point weaker at 1,545.52.

However, losers outpaced gainers 482 to 380 while 418 counters were unchanged, 1,029 untraded and 47 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.68 billion units worth RM932.07 million.

Among other heavyweights, Petronas Gas expanded 14 sen to RM18.08 and Sime Darby widened four sen to RM2.66, while Petronas Chemicals went down 22 sen to RM6.77, and AMMB Holdings lost four sen to RM4.27. 

As for the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated and TWL Holdings inched up half-a-sen each to 2.5 sen and four sen, Master Tec rose 6.5 sen to 71.5 sen but Cape EMS narrowed 19.5 sen to 93.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 17.81 points to 11,515.09, the FBMT 100 Index improved 21.32 points to 11,170.01, however, the FBM ACE Index was 39.84 points lower at 4,805.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 4.23 points to 11,525.69 and the FBM 70 Index shed 13.21 points to 15,494.52

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 19.63 points to 17,339.04, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 1.25 points to 176.68, the Plantation Index went up 0.92 of-a-point to 7,160.61 and the Energy Index lost 7.79 points to 928.44. — BERNAMA / pic TMR