KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia remained in positive territory at midday today, in tandem with gains on most regional peers and in tracking the higher overnight performance of Wall Street.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.15 points to 1,776.21 from last Friday’s close of 1,768.06.

The index opened 1.10 points higher at 1,769.16 and moved between 1,769.16 and 1,776.32 during the morning session.

Gainers led losers 479 to 388 with 350 counters unchanged, 533 untraded and 18 others suspended. 

Turnover stood at 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.41 billion.

The market was closed yesterday for the Labour Day public holiday.   

A dealer said Asian bourses rallied today as investors reacted positively to a bullish overnight Wall Street, which was mainly lifted by high-technologies shares.

The overnight technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 44 points, or 0.7 per cent to a record high of 6,091.60.

The easing of concerns over North Korea also boosted investment sentiment in the region.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 126.99 points to 19,473.51, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng improved 65.34 points to 24,680.47 and Singapore’s Straits Times was 26.12 points higher at 3,201.56.

On the technical front, Kenanga Research said in a note today that the FBM KLCI is likely to trade range-bound for the week ahead within the levels of 1,760  to 1,774, after it closed above the 1,760 mark for the first time in a year, last week.

“Next levels of resistance and support are found at 1,800 and 1,743 respectively,” it said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank bagged five sen to RM9.63, Public Bank gained 16 sen to RM20.12 and Petronas Chemicals improved four sen to RM7.34.

Tenaga shed four sen to RM13.90, while Sime Darby remained flat at RM9.33.

Among actives, Dagang Nexchange improved three sen to 63 sen, AbleGroup added eight sen to 20 sen, AirAsia X went up one sen to 46 sen, while IRIS was one sen lower at 19.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index expanded 60.84 points to 12,692.36, the FBMT100 Index gained 57.93 points to 12,317.19, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 21.49 points to 12,993.98 and the FBM Ace improved 17.07 points to 6,259.23.

The FBM 70 jumped 76.68 points to 15,157.65.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index surged 142.13 points to 16,443.30, the Industrial Index perked 8.71 points to 3,227.88,But, the Plantation Index fell 5.92 points to 8,091.42. — Bernama