KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher on buying support for selected blue chips, led by banking stocks.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,759.33 at lunch break, up 3.28 points, from last Friday's close of 1,756.05. The key index opened 9.03 points higher at 1,765.08.

Gains in CIMB, AMMB and Hong Leong Financial (HLF) boosted the composite index with a combined contribution of 2.26 points.

CIMB chalked up eight sen to RM5.69, AMMB bagged 13 sen to RM5.30 and HLF rose 20 sen to RM16.20.

The local market opened in tandem with the upbeat overnight performance of Wall Street, but in the absence of aggressive buying and selling interest, the FBM KLCI traded within only a 7.47-point range amid the mixed performance of regional peers.

Indonesia's Jakarta Composite slipped 0.06 per cent to 5,660.97, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.94 per cent to 24,366.98, while Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.81 per cent to 19,028.17.

Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Index rose 42.56 points to 12,533.14, the FBMT 100 Index increased 38.89 points to 12,165.11 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 48.75 points to 12,896.81.

The FBM 70 surged 108.29 points to 14,839.07, but the FBM Ace declined 17.75 points to 6,140.37.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 63.02 points to 16,071.60, the Plantation Index climbed 34.35 points to 8,061.62, while the Industrial Index advanced 2.08 points to 3,211.64. 

Among actives, Tiger rose half-a-sen to 7.5 sen, DNEX added 3.5 sen to 54 sen, AirAsia X bagged 4.5 sen to 44.5 sen, while Key Alliance was flat at 9 sen. ― Bernama