KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Bursa Malaysia extended its gains to open slightly higher today, taking its cue from Wall Street’s better performance overnight where the Nasdaq also saw robust gains, dealers said.

At 9.06am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.29 points to 1,395.96 from 1,394.67 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 0.85 of-a-point better at 1,395.52.

However, on the broader market, losers led gainers 130 to 85, while 196 counters were unchanged, 1,907 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 225.27 million units worth RM45.38 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI gained for the third consecutive session yesterday, spurred by bargain-hunting activities in selected banking, telecommunications and media heavyweights.

"In our view, the market may remain cautiously optimistic while monitoring the development from global central banks as well as the six-state elections in Malaysia, especially after the Kelantan state assembly was dissolved yesterday,” it said.

On commodities, the brokerage firm noted that Brent crude oil price fell below the US$75 a barrel, while crude palm oil price hovered above RM3,550 per tonne.

"Sector-wise, the technology sector may resume its uptrend following Nasdaq’s gains overnight, and the construction sector may trade actively ahead of the six-state elections and positive results from Gamuda.

"However, the energy sector may see some selling pressure amid a pullback in crude oil prices,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional eased one sen each to RM3.91 and RM9.19, respectively, while Maybank, CIMB, and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.75, RM5.24 and RM5.92, respectively.

Of the actives, Wegmans Holdings warrant edged up half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, SMRT Holdings slid 3.5 sen to 81 sen and Alam Maritim eased half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, while Fintec Global and Destini were flat at one sen and 10 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 9.49 points better at 10,260.59, the FBMT 100 Index added 10.98 points to 9,964.07, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 20.11 points to 10,535.79 and the FBM 70 Index advanced 22.37 points to 13,472.59, while the FBM ACE Index shed 13.18 points to 5,097.30.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 7.67 points to 15,517.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.12 of-a-point to 158.77 and the Energy Index reduced 1.77 points to 786.77, while the Plantation Index increased 19.47 points to 6,712.33. — Bernama