KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Bursa Malaysia remained higher at the midday on continued buying in key heavyweights, led by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Public Bank Bhd.

Maybank and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM8.92 and RM4.65, respectively. These counters contributed 1.1 points to the composite index.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 3.41 points to 1,586.83 from 1,583.42 at Tuesday’s close.

The index opened 2.13 points higher at 1,585.55 and moved between 1,584.06 and 1,591.4 in the morning session.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 356 to 264, while 617 counters were unchanged, 1,055 untraded and 88 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 3.12 billion units worth RM2.73 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said in a note that bargain hunting continued to emerge; thus one should expect the index to hover within the 1,580-1,595 range on Wednesday.

As for Brent crude, it closed lower at US$110 (RM462.44) per barrel amid the ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd lost one sen each to RM9.57 and RM5.31 respectively, IHH Healthcare Bhd slid four sen to RM6.15, Tenaga Nasional Bhd increased four sen to RM9.07, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd was flat at RM6.20.

Of the actives, Capital A Bhd added 5.5 sen to 73.5 sen, Widad Group Bhd inched up half-a-sen to 36 sen and MY EG Services Bhd ticked up three sen to RM1.01, while BSL Corp Bhd and Pasukhas Group Bhd were unchanged at 17 sen and two sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM 70 climbed by 143.81 points to 13,769.25, the FBM Emas Index was 44.13 points higher at 11,363.01, the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked 40.38 points to 11,934.7, the FBMT 100 Index accumulated 45.25 points to 11,047.47, and the FBM ACE expanded 30.66 points to 5,589.05.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.05 of-a-point to 204.1 and the Plantation Index weakened 19.36 points to 7,968.36, but the Financial Services Index gained 42.63 points to 16,709.98