KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher today, with renewed buying support seen across the board in tandem with the better showing on regional peers.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 14.53 points higher at 1,712.22, after moving between 1,701.14 and 1,1712.81 throughout the morning.

The index opened 3.45 points higher at 1,701.14 from yesterday’s close of 1,697.69.

Market breadth was positive as gainers led losers 515 to 268 with 360 counters unchanged, 553 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.83 billion shares worth RM1.25 billion.

A dealer said the local bourse saw active trading across the board, as a result of the spillover effect from the overnight rally on Wall Street.

“Asian stocks were taking cue from Wall Street which set new overnight records on growing optimism about global growth, and rising bets of a rate hike in the US this month,” he added.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.36 per cent to 23,862.31, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.01 per cent to 19,589.77, South Korean Kospi’s improved 0.50 per cent to 2,102 and Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.42 per cent to 3,136.83.

Of heavyweights, Maybank rose 14 sen to RM8.76, Public Bank gained four sen to RM19.98, Sime Darby improved nine sen to RM9.13 and Petronas Chemicals increased 16 sen tp RM7.46, while TNB was flat at RM13.54.

Among actives, Dagang Nexchange warrant bagged 2.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange added 1.5 sen to 44 sen, Censof Holdings warrant improved one sen to 16 sen, while Censof Holdings was flat at 34 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 100.36 points higher at 12,082.23, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 99.09 points to 12,528.93 and the FBMT100 Index advanced 98.79 points to 11,764.63.

The FBM Ace added 20.45 points to 5,253.59 and the FBM 70 jumped 114.10 points to 14,069.52.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index climbed 167.64 points to 15,255.53, the Industrial Index edged up 21.91 points to 3,256.57 and the plantation Index rose 54.12 points to 8,132.38. — Bernama