Share prices higher at midday

Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher today in tandem with the firmer regional markets, dealers said.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.92 points to 1,631.72, after opening at 1,627.46.

The Finance Index advanced 77.051 points to 15,021.69, the Industrial Index was up 9.14 points to 2,791.36, and the Plantation Index rose 46.26 points to 7,944.92.

The FBM Ace Index gained 16.33 points to 4,049.06 and the FBM Emas Index jumped 54.87 points to 11,074.53, while the FBMT100 added 55.15 points to 10,933.23, with the FBM Mid 70 increasing 69.89 points to 11,993.97.

On the scoreboard, gainers led losers by 241 to 148 with 216 counters unchanged, 1039 untraded, and 17 others suspended.

Volume stood at 327.688 million shares worth RM439.64 million.

Among actives, Integrated Rubber added two sen to 22 sen and Ariantec Global gained half-a-sen to seven sen, while Compugates, GPRO and Flonic were unchanged at nine sen, 10 sen and eight sen respectively.

As for the heavyweights, Maybank and Maxis added two sen each to RM9 and RM6.42 respectively, CIMB gained seven sen to RM7.42 and Petronas Chemicals garnered 11 sen to RM6.11. Sime Darby lost two sen to RM9.25.