KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): Bursa Malaysia turned higher at midday, with the key index recouping its earlier losses on buying support for selected heavyweights led by Dialog Group Bhd.

At lunch break, the FBM KLCI had gained 0.53 of a point to 1,559.95 from Wednesday’s close at 1,559.42.

The index, which opened 1.18 points easier at 1,558.24, fluctuated between 1,551.98 and 1,560.24 during the morning trading session.

Dialog contributed 1.818 points to the rise in the composite index. The oil and gas stock increased 18 sen to RM2.87, with 20.67 million shares changing hands.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 516 to 380, while 436 counters were unchanged, 937 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.21 billion units worth RM1.47 billion. 

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd added one sen to RM4.07, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd inched up half a sen to RM4.87 and IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM6.62.

However, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) shed three sen to RM8.05, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) fell 11 sen to RM8.72, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) trimmed four sen to RM9.70 and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd slipped one sen to RM5.91.

Of the actives, SC Estate Builder Bhd bagged two sen to 14 sen and SYF Resources Bhd lost 7.5 sen to 35 sen, while Industronics Bhd and Sin Heng Chan (Malaya) Bhd inched up half a sen each to 20.5 sen and 62 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 18.06 points to 11,472.51, the FBMT 100 Index gained 6.18 points to 11,128.77, the FBM Emas Shariah Index picked up 21.22 points to 12,604.13, the FBM 70 improved 17.74 points to 15,050.99 and the FBM ACE perked 3.53 points to 7,075.61.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 3.35 points to 15,208.02 and the Plantation Index rose 70.84 points to 6,988.07, while the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.59 of a point to 207.59.