KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 ― Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today after finishing lower yesterday, driven by mild buying in selected heavyweights amidst slightly weaker sentiments in regional markets, dealers said.

At 9.16am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.31 points to 1,514.06 from yesterday's close of 1,512.75.

The barometer index opened 0.15 of-a-point easier at 1,512.60.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 216 to 192, while 289 counters were unchanged, 1,565 untraded and 52 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 427.43 million units worth RM131.76 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities said it is expecting profit-taking activities to continue on the local front today with the Evergrande incident.

"The overall market may consolidate with the FBM Small Cap turning lower at this juncture. On the commodity markets, Brent oil traded firmer above US$82 per barrel after the solid US jobs data, suggesting that US economic activities continue to grow, coupled with the ongoing Middle East tension.

"Hence, we believe the oil and gas (O&G) sector may sustain its momentum (going forward). Besides, with the Large Scale Solar 5 (LSS5) announcement recently, there will be a spike in trading interest among solar engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) players,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slipped 2.0 sen to RM9.22, Petronas Chemicals declined 1.0 sen to RM6.82, while Public Bank, CIMB and Tenaga Nasional rose 2.0 sen each to RM4.42, RM6.24 and RM10.50, respectively.

As for the actives, TWL Holdings was flat at 4.0 sen, Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, Reneuco fell 4.5 sen to 11 sen while PUC advanced 1.0 sen to 4.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 7.14 points higher at 11,263.98, the FBMT 100 Index rose 5.77 points to 10,922.63, while the FBM 70 Index decreased 6.93 points to 15,257.81.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 12.27 points to 11,293.12 and the FBM ACE Index went up 12.13 points to 4,797.43.

Sector-wise, the Property Index shed 1.48 points to 924.61, the Plantation Index increased 34.59 points to 7,242.96 and the Energy Index added 6.84 points to 886.02.

The Financial Services Index bagged 13.63 points to 16,964.30 and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.02 of-a-point to 174.04. ― Bernama