KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading session today, buoyed by renewed buying interest amid mixed sentiments on the regional markets, dealers said.

At 9.20am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 6.54 points or 0.43 per cent to 1,537.84 from Tuesday’s close of 1,531.30.

The benchmark index opened 0.47 of-a-point higher at 1,531.77.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 224 to 175, while 254 counters were unchanged, 1,656 untraded, and 24 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 288.65 million units worth RM120.54 million.

In a research note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the selldown in technology stocks on Wall Street last night may spillover to the technology sector on the local front today.

“However, we still expect selected stocks in the consumer and real estate investment trust (REIT) sectors to outperform the market on the back of business recovery catalysts.

“On the commodity markets, the crude oil traded above US$113 (RM496.41) per barrel, while the crude palm oil (CPO) price hovered around RM6,450. As both crude oil and CPO prices traded higher, we believe investors should favour the energy and plantation counters. Traders may avoid technology stocks given the selldown on Wall Street overnight,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare rose 1.0 sen each to RM8.97 and RM6.41 respectively, Public Bank added 4.0 sen to RM4.54 and Petronas Chemicals earned 6.0 sen to RM10.02.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy gained half a sen to 9.0 sen, KNM Group improved 1.0 sen to 16.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik and MNC Wireless were flat at 10 sen and 1.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM ACE gained 38.92 points to 5,230.36, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 39.23 points to 11,390.19, the FBM Emas Index improved 35.78 points to 10,986.06, the FBMT100 Index bagged 37.38 points to 10,659.52, and the FBM70 strengthened 13.63 points to 13,095.20.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.21 of-a-point higher at 198.81, the Financial Services Index advanced 62.95 points to 16,537.52, and the Plantation Index advanced 85.85 points to 8,080.78. — Bernama