KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its gains at midday, with financial services, healthcare and transportation stocks leading the gains among heavyweights.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.53 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 1,682.58, from last Friday's close of 1,679.05.
The benchmark index opened 3.35 points higher at 1,682.40 and traded between 1,678.37 and 1,685.49 during the morning trading session.
Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 594 to 303, while 493 counters were unchanged, 1,260 untraded, and 10 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.57 billion shares worth RM759.56 million.
In a note today, Apex Securities Bhd said that technology and semiconductor-linked counters are expected to be back in focus following last Friday's regional reversal.
It said local companies with genuine artificial intelligence-related exposure, particularly those involved in precision cleaning, advanced packaging, inspection and testing, are best positioned to benefit from renewed investor interest.
"Meanwhile, banks are expected to remain the key swing factor for the index," it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM10.86, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.91, Tenaga Nasional gained two sen to RM14.30, CIMB Group increased one sen to RM7.61, IHH Healthcare advanced eight sen to RM8.23, and MISC enhanced 15 sen to RM7.90.
On the most active list, Silver Ridge fell 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Zetrix AI slipped 2.5 sen to 76.5 sen, AMS Advanced Material jumped five sen to 46.5 sen, and Eckem Holdings gained 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, while Tanco was flat at 17.5 sen.
Of the top gainers, United Plantations rose 22 sen to RM33.34, Bintulu Port Holdings added 21 sen to RM5.56, Petronas Dagangan increased 16 sen to RM19.42, Grand Central Enterprises improved 11 sen to 39 sen, and Kee Ming Group gained nine sen to RM1.85.
As for the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries slid RM1.26 to RM46.52, Nestle slipped 86 sen to RM90.34, Panasonic Manufacturing eased 19 sen to RM5.70, Frontken Corporation lost 16 sen to RM4.77, and UMS Integration shed 16 sen to RM7.94.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 8.90 points to 12,465.91, the FBMT 100 Index added 11.69 points to 12,294.99, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 0.37 of-a-point to 12,292.60.
Meanwhile, the FBM 70 Index fell 43.17 points to 17,797.19, and the FBM ACE Index declined 23.92 points to 4,870.69.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 54.04 points to 19,886.00, and the Plantation Index gained 29.31 points to 8,998.85.
However, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.93 of-a-point to 181.51, and the Energy Index eased 0.74 of-a-point to 757.86.