KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Bursa Malaysia was higher at midday on Thursday on persistent buying interest led by telecommunications, finance and utilities counters as it tracked the firmer close on Wall Street.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 0.25%, or 3.7 points to 1,439.03 from Wednesday's closing of 1,435.33.

The benchmark index opened 0.61 of a point higher at 1,435.94 and moved between 1,435.86 and 1,447.35 throughout the session. 

On the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 458 to 307, while 369 counters were unchanged, 1,216 untraded and 14 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.9 billion units worth RM1.01 billion.

As markets are heading into the reporting season, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it favours the construction and property sectors amid more manageable building material costs compared to previous years.

As sentiment turned more positively in the global scene, it also expects bargain hunting to spill over to the technology sector, the research firm said in a note. 

Among the heavyweights, CelcomDigi Bhd increased seven sen to RM4.27, Axiata Group Bhd was six sen higher at RM2.24, Public Bank Bhd added two sen to RM4.17, Tenaga Nasional Bhd increased five sen each to RM9.90 and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd rose 22 sen to RM17.44.

Of the actives, SMTrack Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Ranhill Utilities Bhd grew eight sen to 81.5 sen, while Salutica Bhd shed four sen to 68.5 sen and MQ Technology Bhd was flat by 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 40.89 points better at 10,622.1, the FBMT 100 Index was up 39.03 points to 10,297.46 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 40.31 points to 10,805.02.

The FBM 70 Index leaped 107.75 points to 14,032.47 and the FBM ACE Index chalked up 45.48 points to 5,044.00.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.17 of a point to 169.84, while the Plantation Index gained 19.14 points to 6,905.2, the Energy Index increased by 5.99 points to 863.64 and the Financial Services Index improved by 29.08 points to 16,230.82.