KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Bursa Malaysia extended earlier gains to mid-afternoon today, buoyed by continuous buying support in heavyweights led by CIMB.

At 3pm, the benchmark index increased 2.09 points to 1,506.19 from Wednesday’s close of 1,504.10.

The barometer index opened 0.65 of-a-point easier at 1,503.45 and moved in a tight range of between 1,502.89 and 1,508.94.

CIMB contributed 1.055 points to the key index, after rising six sen to RM6.18 with 7.23 million shares changing hands.

On the broader market, gainers beat losers 531 to 442, while 440 counters were unchanged, 884 untraded and 49 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.49 billion units worth RM2.09 billion.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga gained two sen each to RM9.12 and RM10.54 respectively, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.37 and Petronas Chemicals trimmed three sen to RM6.72.

MRCB was the most actively traded stock during the mid-afternoon session, gaining 8.5 sen to 66.5 sen with 200.64 million shares changing hands on news that the property developer had submitted a proposal to bid for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project.

Similarly, Berjaya Land increased 8.5 sen to 46 sen as its 70-per cent-owned subsidiary, Berjaya Rail Sdn Bhd, was reportedly teaming up with MRCB, IJM Construction Sdn Bhd, and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd to bid for the mega project.

As for other active stocks, YNH Property went up 4.5 sen to 70 sen while Widad Group declined 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen.

ACE Market debutant, KJTS Group surged 21 sen or 77.78 per cent to 48 sen over its initial public offering price of 27 sen with 153.57 million shares transacted.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 21.81 points to 11,230.01, the FBM 70 Index jumped 70.66 points to 15,275.07, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 24.11 points to 10,883.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 9.04 points to 11,302.33, while the FBM ACE Index fell 10.97 points to 4,850.45.

Sector-wise, the Property Index increased 6.97 points to 926.84, the Plantation Index expanded 15.68 points to 7,207.44, the Energy Index added 6.57 points to 876.23, the Financial Services Index advanced 44.22 points to 16,810.82, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.52 of-a-point to 174.31.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday in conjunction with Thaipusam. — Bernama