KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded strongly, in early trade, propped up by bluechip buying, dealers said.

At 9.32am, the key index stood at 1,874.14, up 12.32 points, after opening higher at 1,862.02.

One dealer anticipated the crucial support level to be at 1,857.

“On the upside, we are eyeing the 1,880 level, the previous high of Aug 20, as our immediate resistance.

“If a decisive breakout occurs, the next resistance levels are maintained at the 1,898 record high, followed by the 1,900 round figure,” he said.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index surged 117.33 points to 17,495.46, the Industrial Index gained 18.5 points to 3,256.06 and the Plantation Index expanded 67.66 points to 8,567.13.

The FBM Emas Index rose 62.04 points to 13,073.74, FBMT100 Index increased 62.46 points to 12,644.79, the FBM Ace edged up 6.5 points to 7,012.05 but the FBM 70 eased 9.149 points to 14,272.62.

Gainers led losers 263 to 152 while 254 counters were unchanged, 968 untraded and 30 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 478.74 million shares worth RM255.67 million.

Heavyweights, Maybank jumped 40 sen to RM10.18, Public Bank and TNB added six sen each to RM19.40 and RM12.48, respectively, CIMB gained five sen to RM7.23 and Axiata earned one sen to RM6.96.

Among actives, Sumatec and Eti Tech were flat at 50.5 sen and 9.5 sen, respectively, Takaso added one sen to 42 sen, Globaltec earned half-a-sen to 11.5 sen while Sanichi lost one sen to 10 sen. — Bernama