KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, taking the cue from the slight gains recorded on Asian equity markets early today on the back of a firmer overnight Wall Street and after a rally in the dollar was halted.
A dealer said Asian markets registered slight gains as investors digested the US Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday which revealed that policymakers were quite divided in their opinion on future interest rate increases and concerned over weak inflation.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.10 points better at 1,774.85 against Wednesday's close of 1,773.75.
The benchmark index opened 1.06 points higher at 1,774.81.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 131 to 66 with 158 counters unchanged, 1,492 untraded and 31 others were suspended.
Meanwhile, Alliance DBS Research Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI would likely trade above the 1,774.61 points today as buying power was stronger than selling pressure.
Market participants were unwilling to play a more aggressive selling game and chose to stay on the sidelines until they saw a clearer picture on the chart.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.70, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals gained two sen each to RM20.60 and RM7.18, respectively, Tenaga shed two sen to RM14.20, CIMB Group eased one sen to RM6.76 while Sime Darby was flat at RM9.30.
Among actives, IFCA and Micro MSC improved two sen each to 41.5 sen and 49.5 sen, respectively, JAG warrant edged up half-a-sen to six sen, Dialog gained three sen to RM1.96 while JAG was flat at 15.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 12.46 points higher at 12,610.52, FBM 70 rose 32.48 points to 14,963.39, FBM Emas Shariah Index added 17.08 points to 12,748.40, FBMT 100 Index increased 12.27 points to 12,271.17 and the FBM Ace gained 13.58 points to 6,602.92.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 18.39 points better at 16,781.17, the Plantation Index advanced 51.86 points to 7,856.56 while the Industrial Index eased 1.82 points to 3,234.31.