KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 ― Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on renewed buying interests in the local bourse.

At 9.05am, the key index rose by 3.27 points to 1,421.96 from yesterday's close of 1,418.69, after opening 2.57 points higher at 1,421.26.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 162 to 91, while 163 counters were unchanged, 1,824 untraded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 80.30 million units worth RM31.56 million.

For today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said he expects some buying activities to emerge and the benchmark index to hover within the 1,415-1,430 range today.

"Meanwhile, crude palm oil closed marginally lower at RM3,946 per tonne, while the Brent crude ended higher at around US$105 per barrel on concerns of a potential civil war in Libya,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM8.60, Public Bank rose three sen to RM4.39 and Petronas Chemicals improved nine sen to RM8.43, while CIMB was flat at RM5.09, IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.31 and Hong Leong Bank fell eight sen to RM20.10.

As for the actives, Hibiscus Petroleum increased three sen to 90.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange was one sen higher at 77.5 sen and Scope Industries edged up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and KNM were flat at 4.5 sen and 12 sen, respectively, and Metronic Global slipped two sen to seven sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index bagged 25.73 points to 10,117.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 24.49 points to 10,177.06, the FBM 70 was 38.72 points higher at 12,200.75, the FBMT 100 Index improved 24.77 points to 9,873.6, and the FBM ACE rose by 31.11 points to 4,635.11.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 31.22 points to 16,028.47, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.25 points to 173.05, the Energy Index rose 7.48 points to 639.85, and the Plantation Index widened 19.12 points to 6,607.59. ― Bernama