KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia traded higher in the early session today, surpassing the 1,700-level following active buying momentum in heavyweights and lower liners.

At 9.05 am, the key index soared 16 points to 1,708.20, after opening 10.58 points better at 1,702.78.

Heavyweights Petronas Gas jumped 44 sen to RM23.04, Sime Darby increased 13 sen to RM8.89 while Petronas Chemicals, Digi and Maxis advanced nine sen each to RM6.49, RM5.79 and RM6.90 respectively.

Of the actives, Luster Industries and Daya Materials edged up half-a-sen each to nine sen and 16.5 sen respectively, KNM gained three sen to 56.5 sen and Sumatec added one sen to 16.5 sen.

Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced decliners 188 to 76 while 113 counters were unchanged, 1,428 untraded and 33 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 133.48 million shares worth RM62.39 million.

The FBM Emas Index increased 101.2 points to 11,731.34, the FBMT100 was up 101.15 points to 11,440.7, the FBM Emas Shariah surged 132.94 points to 12,481.67 and the FBM Ace improved 20.02 points to 5,790.62.

Meanwhile, the FBM 70 expanded 89.22 points to 12,601.08.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index went up 78 points to 14,489.73, the Industrial Index bagged 43.45 points to 3,361.09 and the Plantation Index garnered 48.57 points for 7,445.71.

– BERNAMA