KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher today, buoyed by gains in key heavyweights, dealers said.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.27 points to 1,793.84, with the market barometer moving between 1,784.46 and 1,796.29.

A dealer said 23 out of 30 FBM KLCI-linked companies recorded gains as interest centered around key heavyweights, as well as construction and oil and gas, small cap companies.       

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index perked 103.029 points to 17,087.54, and the Industrial Index improved 12.89 points to 3,030.78, while the Plantation Index gained 16.61 points to 8,313.24.

The FBM Emas Index increased 62.22 points to 12,509.79, the FBMT100 was up 58.17 points to 12,240.62, the FBM ACE Index improved 22.08 points to 5,326.97 and the FBM 70 Index chalked up 52.65 points to 14,389.71.

Gainers outpaced losers 433 to 232, with 292 counters unchanged, 616 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.08 million shares worth RM844.93 million.

Among actives, Luster Industries and Flonic added one sen each to 10.5 sen and 18 sen respectively, Astral Supreme gained two sen to 25.5 sen and Tiger Synergy and Takaso Resources bagged 1.5 sen each to 24 sen and 23.5 sen respectively.

For the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM10.52, CIMB improved 11 sen to RM8.07, and Axiata earned two sen for RM6.92.

Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals were unchanged at RM9.48 and RM6.60. – Bernama