KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher on bargain-hunting today despite the lower performance of overnight session on Wall Street.

At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.82 points higher at 1,581.66 from 1,575.84 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 4.34 points higher at 1,580.18.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 257 to 215, while 306 counters were unchanged, 1,398 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume stood at 516.42 million units worth RM185.68 million.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index eased 0.44 per cent, the Dow Jones declined  0.38 per cent, and Nasdaq trimmed 0.72 per cent.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said traders may take profit on oil and gas counters after a decent rally.

"We think that the market participants may venture into consumer, plantation and furniture stocks ahead of their respective earnings next week,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM7.94, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.13, Top Glove improved three sen to RM6.10, while PChem and Tenaga were flat at RM7.47 and RM9.85, respectively.

Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange rose 2.5 sen to 79.5 sen, Pegasus was half-a-sen higher at three sen, while Sapura Energy and Lambo were flat at 15.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.

Meanwhile Velesto Energy decreased half-a-sen to 17.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 28.66 points to 11,598.62, the FBMT 100 Index increased 36.4 points to 11,284.11, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 40.48 points higher at 13,096.81.

The FBM 70 added 29.56 points to 15,260.56, and the FBM ACE increased 88.39 points to 11,176.35.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 14.24 points to 14,788.88, while the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.2 of-a-point to 181.25, and the Plantation Index inched up 15.95 points to 7,191.83. — Bernama