KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were firmer in the early session today after opening slightly lower on profit-taking.

Thirty three minutes after trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.84 points to 1,833.45 after opening at 1,825.42.

Dealers said the key FBM KLCI will probably range-bound with a marginal upward bias today.

On the chart, the benchmark index could pull away further from the immediate support level of 1,825 towards the resistance threshold of 1,840.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index firmed 59.77 points to 16,790.789, the Plantation Index rose 25.91 points to 8,650.26 and the Industrial Index was 3.08 points higher at 3,090.49.

The FBM Emas Index surged 46.41 points to 12,705.85, the FBMT100 Index perked 45.55 points to 12,405.5, the FBM Ace garnered 32.86 points to 5,994.04, with the FBM 70 gaining 49.14 points to 14,142.67.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 264 to 153, with 1,143 counters unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 314.6 million shares worth RM155.5 million.

Among actives, Minetech Resources earned 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Iris Corporation inched up 2.5 sen to 40.5 and Malaysia Airlines added half-a-sen to 31.5 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.83, Tenaga gained 16 sen to RM11.74, Axiata and CIMB were flat at RM6.75 and RM7.30, respectively. — Bernama