KL shares mixed at midafternoon

MILD profit-taking activities saw share prices mixed in midafternoon trade on Bursa Malaysia, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) was 3.82 points better at 1,292.06, after opening 0.62 of a point higher at 1,288.86.

According to a dealer, buying momentum remained strong as more investors returned to the market after the year-end holidays.

He said persistant buying of selected bluechips helped the benchmark index stay above the 1,290 points level. The Finance Index rose 38.61 points to 11,178.24, the Industrial Index added 11.94 points to 2,693.80 while the Plantation Index declined 2.25 points to 6,502.83.



The FBM Emas Index increased 29.40 points to 8,687.59, the FBM Top 100 Index gained 25.56 points to 8,461.32, the FBM70 Index advanced 28.03 points to 8,526.48 while the FBMACE Index declined 15.97 points to 4,458.80.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 352 to 334 while 231 counters were unchanged and 386 others were untraded. Volume stood at 1.04 billion shares valued at RM94.58 million.

Among actives, Compugates Holdings shed half-a-sen to seven sen while Talam Corporation added half-a-sen to 11.5 sen and Scomi Group rose 2.5 sen to 50.5 sen.

Heavyweights Sime Darby inched up one sen to RM9.10, Maybank lost one sen to RM6.89, CIMB Group gained 12 sen to RM13.10 and Maxis rose two sen to RM5.40. - Bernama