KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 ― Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were firm at mid-afternoon today lifted by gains in selected blue-chips, dealers said.

At 3.01pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) perked 10.72 points to 1,872.54.

Blue-chips dominated the top gainers's list. British American Tobacco rose RM1.56 to RM72.96, Hong Leong Financial Group perked 52 sen to RM17.56 and Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Gas chalked up 36 sen each to RM14.36 and RM22.58 respectively.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index jumped 84.76 points to 17,462.89, Industrial Index firmed 20.88 points to 3,258.44 and the Plantation Index rose 64.221 points to 8,563.69.

The FBM Emas Index increased 45.02 points to 13,056.72 and FBMT100 Index surged 46.47 points to 12,628.8.

The FBM 70 eased 47.22 points to 14,234.55 and the FBM Ace lost 38.8 points to 6,966.75.

Losers led gainers 338 to 428, while 314 counters were unchanged, 557 untraded and 30 others suspended.   

Turnover stood at 1.57 billion shares worth RM1.29 billion.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB gained six sen each to RM10.10 and RM7.24 respectively, TNB added four sen to RM12.46 and Axiata rose one sen to RM6.96.

Public Bank lost two sen to RM19.32.

Of the actives, Sumatec and Globaltec were flat at 50.5 sen and 11 sen respectively while Takaso climbed half a sen to 41.5 sen.

Sanichi slipped half a sen to 10.5 sen and PDZ eased one sen to 32 sen. ― Bernama