KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were higher in the early session today on strong buying support.

At 9.05am, the KLCI stood at 1,708.81, up 0.73-of-a-point from yesterday’s close of 1,708.08.

The index opened 1.46 points higher at 1,709.54 at 9 am.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers by 148 to 109 while 198 counters were unchanged, 1,265 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 169.93 million shares worth RM71.68 million.

In a note today, RHB Retail Research said the buyers still controlled the market, as the KLCI settled at 1,710 points yesterday and was still trading above the 1,696-point support level.

Alliance DBS Research said that the support level identification had explained why the well-informed minority knowledgeable market participants were unwilling to play a more aggressive selling game. 

"So, the market is expected to consolidate between 1,700 and 1,713 in the coming few days, as market continues to balance out the disequilibrium created in the demand supply equation recently,” it said.

The research house expected the KLCI to trade above the 1,709.1 level.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank added two sen to RM20.06, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM7.40, Genting improved one sen to RM9.95 while Maybank and Tenaga Nasional both remained unchanged at RM8.42 and RM13.52, respectively.

Among actives, Dagang Nexchange inched up half-a-sen to 39 sen and its warrant went up one sen to 10.5 sen, RGB fell four sen to 29 sen while Sterling Progress and AirAsia X were unchanged at 21 sen and 41.5 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index rose 8.92 points to 12,055.36, FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 11.68 points to 12,528.44 and the FBMT100 Index garnered 5.40 points to 11,728.21.

The FBM 70 rose 7.91 points to 13,976.80 and the FBM Ace advanced 5.29 points to 5,381.07.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index climbed 8.13 points to 15,073.77, Industrial Index gained 5.31 points to 3,289.27 and the Plantation Index was 27.74 points firmer at 8,059.95. — Bernama