KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded firmer at the end of the morning session today, with most buying interest seen in selected heavyweights led by CIMB Group, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 15.12 points or 0.877 per cent to 1,738.92 after opening at 1,726.27.

CIMB Group, which accounted for 2.2 points to the benchmark index’s rise, garnered 16 sen to RM7.35.

On regional bourses, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 344.92 points or 2.48 per cent to 14,205.73, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased 166.07 points or 0.73 per cent to 22,787.29 and Singapore’s Straits Times rose 39.65 points or 1.26 per cent to 3,088.

On the local front, the Finance Index advanced 159.149 points to 16,341.88, the Plantation Index improved 20.97 points to 8,174.67 and the Industrial Index surged 31.76 points to 2,932.83.

The FBM Emas Index advanced 104.479 points to 12,061.84, the FBM100 Index was 101.09 points higher to 11,818.12, the FBM 70 Index perked 110.309 points to 13,691.5 and the FBM Ace jumped 32.29 points to 5,008.14.

Winners thumped losers by 449 to 147, with 234 counters unchanged, 734 untraded and 14 suspended.

Trading was moderate today, with turnover standing at 669.877 million shares worth RM605.856 million.   

Among actives, Instacom Group-WB gained 10.5 sen to 11 sen, Asia Media Group edged up half a sen to 12.5 sen and China Stationery was unchanged at 22 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM10.02, Axiata rose four sen to RM6.76, Sime Darby edged up one sen to RM9.41 and Petronas Chemicals added 11 sen to RM6.61. — Bernama