KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued their earlier uptrend to close the morning session in positive territory, lifted by buying interest in bluechips and key heavyweights, dealers said.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 9.39 points higher at 1,785.31, after fluctuating between 1,788.88 and 1,783.53 throughout the morning session.

The rise in the composite index was mainly boosted by gains in Petronas-related stocks, Maybank and Genting, with a total contribution of 5.898 points.

Market breadth was positive with gainers trounching losers 388 to 217, with 317 counters unchanged, 689 untraded and 23 others suspended.   

Volume amounted to 1.054 billion shares worth RM731.638 million.

A dealer said the uptrend on Bursa was in tandem with regional equity markets as investors breathed a sigh of relief that lawmakers showed signs of breaking the political gridlock in Washington.   

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index chalked up 81.24 points to 16,671.34, the Plantation Index increased 38.22 points to 8,375.8, and the Industrial Index earned 19.57 points to 3,067.04.

The FBM Emas Index rose 58.59 points to 12,429.26, the FBM100 Index advanced 57.23 points to 12,162.48, the FBM 70 went up 39.06 points to 14,210.34, and the FBM Ace garnered 15.74 points to 5,473.54.        

Among actives, Hubline inched up half-a-sen to six sen, but The Media Shoppe shed half-a-sen to nine sen and Flonic Hi-Tec slipped one sen to 11.5 sen.     

Of the heavyweights, Maybank chalked up seven sen to RM9.97, Sime Darby added one sen to RM9.45, CIMB rose six sen to RM7.48 and Petronas Chemicals bolstered nine sen to RM7.05.

Meanwhile, Axiata Group was flat at RM6.92. – Bernama