KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 ― Share prices on Bursa Malaysia remained in positive territory, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ending the morning session 6.17 points firmer at 1,785.

The benchmark index, which fluctuated between 1,783.23 and 1,786.58, was lifted by buying interest as investors took the cue from the positive overnight performance on Wall Street.

A dealer said recent losses attracted some bargain hunting, resulting in mild buying interest for selected heavyweights and index-linked counters.

The gains in composite index were led by IHH Healthcare and TNB, with both counters contributing 2.2 points to the rise.

IHH Healthcare’s share rose eight sen to RM3.60 while TNB soared 10 sen to RM11.38.                  

The dealer also said Asian equity markets rallied following better Wall Street’s performance, coupled with bullish corporate earnings from Japan.       

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index soared 70.2 points to 16,358.71, the Plantation Index surged 31.65 points to 8,338.02 and the Industrial Index added 4.7 points to 3,036.07.

The FBM Emas Index rose 40.09 points to 12,332.28, the FBMT100 Index improved 36.75 points to 12,045.54, the FBM 70 gained 22.31 points to 13,606.3 and the FBM Ace advanced 37.89 points to 5,910.24.       

Market breadth was positive as gainers outnumbered losers 362 to 235, with 256 counters unchanged, 740 untraded and 17 others were suspended.        

Turnover totalled 741.08 million shares worth RM670.11 million.

Among actives, both Minetech Resources and Astral Supreme inched up half-a-sen each to 22 sen and 20 sen, respectively, while AT Systematisation was flat at 7.5 sen.      

Heavyweights, both Maybank and CIMB rose five sen each to RM9.61 and RM6.90, respectively, Sime Darby gained four sen to RM8.91, but Axiata Group slipped two sen to RM6.53. ― Bernama