KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Bursa Malaysia opened the week on a higher note today, supported by buying interest in most indices, analysts said.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ticked up 0.8 of-a-point to 1,569.02 compared with 1,568.22 at Friday’s close.

The benchmark index opened 2.48 points firmer at 1,570.70.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 216 to 131, while 187 counters were unchanged, 1,767 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 139.36 million units valued at RM73.92 million.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed sharply lower as technology and growth shares led a broad decline, with investors worrying about the Russia-Ukraine conflict while attention turned to the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy meeting this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average lost 230 points while the Nasdaq declined 286 points.

"We reckon the Fed to tighten monetary policy this year to fight the 40-year high inflation.

"For the local bourse, we anticipate that investors’ sentiment to remain jittery though bargain-hunting activities may emerge as well. As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend in range bound and hovering within the 1,560-1,580 level for today,” it said in a note today.

On oil markets, crude palm oil eased to below RM7,000 level with Brent crude remaining high at above US$110 per barrel.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.94, Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM9.76, IHH Healthcare added two sen to RM6.43, while Public Bank eased two sen to RM4.38, Press Metal dropped nine sen to RM6.41 and CIMB was flat at RM5.05.

Of the actives, Green Packet and Bumi Armada was 1.5 sen better at 11 sen and 41.5 sen, respectively, and Advance Synergy eased 1.5 sen to 10 sen.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index was 16.15 points better at 11,130.74, FBM Emas Shariah Index widened 35.87 points to 11,798.75, FBM 70 ticked up 62.02 points to 13,134.77, FBMT 100 Index perked 15.34 points to 10,832.56, and FBM ACE climbed 35.25 points to 5,293.73.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.03 of-a-point to 204.72, the Financial Services Index increased 11.34 points to 16,261.36, while the Plantation Index erased 17.56 points to 8,187.14. — Bernama