KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Buying interest in banking and plantation stocks influenced share prices on Bursa Malaysia to end the morning session on a firm note, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) continuing to post gains.

The benchmark FBM KLCI closed at 1,828.89, up 2.43 points, after fluctuating between 1,828.01 and 1,830.94 throughout the morning session.

Genting Bhd, the biggest contributor to the rise in composite index, chalked up 17 sen to RM10.14, with 2.628 million lots changing hands.

Maybank gained two sen to RM9.64, CIMB added five sen to RM7.09, Public Bank garnered eight sen to RM19.06, while PPB soared 20 sen to RM16.12 and FGV added three sen to RM4.54.

An analyst said the rebound in the local market was due to the overnight rally on Wall Street following easing geopolitical tensions after Russia’s assurance that military action would be the last resort in Ukraine.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 40.12 points to 16,466.26, the Plantation Index increased 26.06 points to 8,803.85, and the Industrial Index added 0.16 of a point to 3,132.46.

The FBM Emas Index jumped 24.46 points to 12,644.01, the FBMT100 Index gained 19.43 points to 12,322.98, the FBM 70 advanced 33.73 points to 13,846.89, and the FBM Ace expanded 67.87 points to 6,554.2.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers thumping losers 417 to 248, while 306 counters were unchanged, 644 untraded and 14 others were suspended.

Turnover totalled 1.44 billion shares worth RM912.78 million Among actives, IRIS Corp gained two sen to 60 sen, while Ingenuity was flat at 11 sen.

Of the heavyweights, both TNB and Sime Darby lost two sen each to RM11.98 and RM9.23, respectively, while Axiata lost five sen to RM6.53. — Bernama