KUALA LUMPUR, March 5  — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia extended earlier gains at mid-morning today, lifted by buying in banking and plantation counters.

At 11:01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was quoted at 1,829.36, up 2.9 points after fluctuating between 1,828.01 and 1,830.94.

Maybank gained three sen to RM9.65, CIMB added five sen to RM7.09, Public Bank chalked up six sen to RM19.04, while PPB soared 22 sen to RM16.14 and FGV garnered three sen to RM4.54.

TA Securities said the local market should extend the rebound today, given the overnight rally on Wall Street following easing geopolitical tensions after Russia’s assurance that military action would be a last resort in Ukraine.

“Nonetheless, immediate resistance for the index remains at the upper “Bollinger Band”, which has contracted to 1,845 points, while 1,860 points will be the next hurdle, followed by the all-time high of 1,882 points.

“Immediate support stays at the 100-day moving average now at 1,815 points, with stronger support at 1,797 points. The 200-day moving average level at 1,792 points will be the crucial uptrend support,” TA Securities said in its market view report today.      

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index perked 52.79 points to 16,478.93, the Plantation Index added 4.94 points to 8,782.72, while the Industrial Index advanced 10.02 points to 3,142.32.

The FBM Emas Index gained 27.17 points to 12,647.72, the FBMT100 Index improved 22.65 points to 12,326.2, the FBM 70 was 37.54 points higher at 13,850.69, and the FBM ACE jumped 103.57 points to 6,589.9.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers thumping losers 406 to 179, while 285 counters were unchanged, 745 untraded and 14 others were suspended.

Turnover totalled 1.07 billion shares worth RM564.8 million.

Among actives, IRIS Corp added 2.5 sen to 60.5 sen, while Ingenuity and Asia Bioenergy shed half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively.           

As for heavyweights, TNB was flat at RM12.00, while Axiata lost five sen to RM6.53 and Sime Darby slipped two sen to RM9.23. — Bernama