KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rose in early trading today led by gains in index-linked banking stocks and penny stocks in line with the positive overnight close on Wall Street.

At 9.17 am, the benchmark index went up 4.64 points to 1,778.8 after opening 1.62 points higher at 1,775.78.

Heavyweights Maybank gained 10 sen to RM9.87, CIMB 5 sen to RM7.79 and Axiata 6 sen to RM6.89, while Sime Darby and Maxis were flat at RM9.50 and RM7.02 respectively.

Among actives, Daya Materials added 1 sen to 33 sen and Sona Petroleum 1.5 sen to 45 sen. Flonic Hi-Tec was flat at 11.5 sen and MAS inched down 0.5 sen to 33.5 sen.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the key index could stage a mild technical rebound today after falling for four consecutive days with cumulative losses of 27.7 points or 1.5 per cent.

“On the chart, the benchmark index may recover towards its immediate support-turned-resistance level of 1,785 ahead,” it said in a note.

Wall Street was up marginally last night, with major equity indices rising between 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent at the closing bell as investors await the outcome of ongoing talks to raise the US government’s debt ceiling.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Industrial Index added 3.67 points to 3,041.96, the Plantation Index 6.66 points to 8,356.41 and the Finance Index 106.35 points to 16,597.42.

The FBM Emas Index surged 34.02 points to 12,365.9, the FBM100 Index was 33.58 points higher at 12,009.82, the FBM 70 advanced 47.5 points to 14,061.91 and the FBM Ace went up 28.99 points to 5,544.26.

Gainers thumped losers 205 to 57, with 152 counters unchanged, 1,178 untraded and 26 others suspended.

Trading stood at 255.05 million shares worth RM96.47 million. — Bernama