KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Bursa Malaysia was higher in early trade on Tuesday, with the benchmark index opening in positive territory as regional sentiment improved after Wall Street made gains overnight.

At 9.06am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.75 points to 1,420.12 from 1,417.37 at Monday’s close. The barometer index opened 0.55 of a point better at 1,417.92.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 130 to 111, while 204 counters were unchanged, 1,797 untraded, and 23 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 139.28 million units worth RM50.34 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed on a positive note last night amid negotiations on the US debt ceiling which will resume today, with the markets optimistic that a deal can be struck sooner rather than later.

On the domestic front, he reckoned bargain-hunting activities should emerge anytime soon following the week-long decline and expected both the bank and telco stocks to be top on the buying list.

“As such, we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,415 and 1,425 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank added one sen to RM8.70 while Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, and CIMB bagged two sen each to RM3.96, RM7.00, and RM5.00 respectively.

IHH Healthcare rose four sen to RM5.95. Tenaga, however, gave up four sen for RM9.48.

As for the actives, Vinvest inched up half-a-sen to 18.5, Bahvest slipped half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, while Classita and VSolar were flat at 16 sen and half-a-sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 15.98 points to 10,392.61, the FBMT 100 Index earned 14.76 points to 10,087.87 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index picked up 7.09 points to 10,734.63.

The FBM ACE Index garnered 11.44 points to 4,992.45 while the FBM 70 index trimmed 0.05 of a point to 13,441.64.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.28 a point to 166.0, the Financial Services Index climbed 42.63 points to 15,532.02, and the Energy Index improved 3.43 points to 830.82.

However, the Plantation Index dropped 6.33 points to 6,885.39. — Bernama