KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): Bursa Malaysia extended its gains from last Friday to start the week on a positive note, driven by continuous buying momentum in selected heavyweights amid mixed sentiments in regional markets, dealers said.

At 9.15am on Monday, the FBM KLCI had improved by 2.41 points to 1,542.27, from last Friday’s close at 1,539.86.

The benchmark index opened 2.15 points higher at 1,542.01.

However, on the broader market, decliners edged past gainers 216 to 207, while 296 counters were unchanged, 1,540 untraded, and 12 suspended.

In a note, Malacca Securities said that it expects to see a softer upside move in the KLCI and FBM Small Cap, given the weaker sentiments in US markets this week.

“Although we expect the upside move to be limited in the near term, we believe buying interest may persist within the banking and plantation sectors — the plantation sector is likely to trade firmer, with the underlying futures crude palm oil trading near RM4,100 per tonne,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) at RM9.76 and Public Bank Bhd at RM4.30 had added one sen each, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM6.71 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd at RM6.87 had gone up six sen each, while Tenaga Nasional Bhd slipped eight sen to RM11.20.

As for the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd earned half a sen to 1.5 sen, while Pegasus Heights Bhd at half a sen, SMTrack Bhd at five sen and Widad Group Bhd at nine sen were flat.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 12.14 points firmer at 11,435.28, the FBMT 100 Index added 12.61 points to 11,100.66 and the FBM ACE Index advanced 1.12 points to 4,690.17, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 2.64 points to 11,421.34, and the FBM 70 Index shed 2.13 points to 15,401.25.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 29.33 points to 17,398.07, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.36 of a point to 174.52, while the Energy Index declined by 8.39 points to 895.18, and the Plantation Index shaved 11.41 points to 7,327.74.