KUALA LUMPUR: The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) extended its gains at mid-afternoon, boosted by buying in index-linked counters.

At 3 pm, the benchmark index stood at 1,784.44, up 5.61 points after fluctuating between 1,783.23 and 1,786.58 since morning.

A dealer said the overnight gains on Wall Street sparked rebounds in most Asian equity markets, including Bursa Malaysia.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index soared 82.08 points to 16,370.59, the Plantation Index increased 23.22 points to 8,329.59 and the Industrial Index gained 1.76 points to 3,033.13.

The FBM Emas Index was 34.43 points higher at 12,326.63, the FBMT100 Index rose 31.33 points to 12,040.12, the FBM 70 went up 9.92 points to 13,593.9 and the FBM Ace was up 28.24 points to 5,900.59.

Gainers trounced losers 369 to 255, while 280 counters were unchanged, 689 untraded and 17 others were suspended.

Turnover amounted to 876.54 million shares worth RM833.06 billion.

Among actives, Minetech Resources gained 1.5 sen to 23 sen, Astral Supreme inched up half-a-sen to 20 sen but AT Systematization was flat at 7.5 sen.

For heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM9.62, TNB soared 10 sen to RM11.38, CIMB advanced seven sen to RM6.92 and Sime Darby earned three sen to RM8.90.

Axiata Group, however, eased five sen to RM6.50.-- Bernama