KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session range bound on cautious sentiment, dealers said.

At the lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,816.98, up 1.82 points, after hovering between 1,813.54 and 1,818.05.

A dealer said the volatility was due to recovery being mixed on cautious sentiment following the overnight relief rebound on Wall Street after the vote in Crimea to join Russia passed without violence, and amid improved US trade data.

He said despite the passing of the vote, the US and the European Union continued their sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s interference in Crimea.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index gained 28.66 points to 16,387.91, the Industrial Index added 1.8 points to 3,166.32 and the Plantation Index climbed 5.7 points to 8,906.38.

The FBM Emas Index was up 18.721 points to 12,589.23, the FBMT100 Index increased 15.29 points to 12,256.62, the FBM Ace firmed 30.21 points to 6,643.06 and the FBM 70 improved 28.99 points to 13,826.29.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 346 to 264, while 312 counters were unchanged, 709 untraded and 25 others suspended. Turnover totalled 555.17 million shares worth RM648.58 million.

Among actives, Asia Bioenergy, EA Holdings and Kinsteel earned 0.5 sen each to 9.5 sen, 18 sen and 19.5 sen respectively. DiGi.com advanced 3 sen to RM5.12 and MAS gained 1 sen to 24 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained 3 sen to RM9.58, CIMB added 2 sen to RM7.02 and Sime Darby earned 1 sen for RM9.21. TNB lost 6 sen to RM11.94 and Axiata slipped 1 sen to RM6.49. — Bernama