KL shares traded firmer in early session

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded firmer in the early session Friday, tracking overnight improvement on Wall Street, dealers said.

Sixteen minutes into the opening, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.7 of a point to 1,784.9.

As at 9am, the FBM KLCI maintained the same level at yesterday's closing at 1,784.2.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said there is another chance for the key FBM KLCI to overcome the immediate resistance line of 1,785 today after the benchmark index pulled back from an intra-day high of 1,790.03 to close at 1,784.20 yesterday.

This follows an overnight rise on Wall Street which saw its leading indices climbing between 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent to new record levels amid renewed expectations for the US Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus programme.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index improved 12.13 points to 16,483.211, the Plantation Index surged 51.11 points to 8,676.25, while the Industrial Index garnered 6.39 points to 3,065.52.

The FBM Emas Index rose 6.1 points to 12,445.87, the FBMT100 Index added 6.97 points to 12,169.71, the FBM Ace advanced 8.78 points to 5,766.64 and the FBM 70 climbed 17.25 points to 14,259.83.

Advancers overwhelmed decliners 161 to 59, with 1,388 counters unchanged.

Turnover stood at 98.476 million shares worth RM60.184 million.

Among actives, KNM Group gained 3.0 sen to 49.5 sen, AT Systemazation was flat at 17.5 sen, Daya added one sen to 37.5 and Ecofirs edged up 1.5 sen to 21.5.

As for heavyweights, Maybank earned one sen to RM9.71, CIMB shed two sen to RM7.42 and Axiata lost one sen to RM6.83.-- Bernama