KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading today, lifted by positive sentiments and in line with the uptrend in regional bourses, a dealer said.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was quoted at 1,875.72 points, up 2.34 points, after opening 5.58 points lower at 1,867.8 points.

Maybank, the largest contributor to the rise of composite index by 1.46 points, saw its shares gaining nine sen to RM9.97.

Gains were mostly spotted in the plantation stocks led by United Plantation, which added 56 sen to RM27.96, KLK improved 32 sen to RM24.24, FGV garnered seven sen to RM4.31, while MKH and IOI Corp gained half-a-sen each to RM3.95 and RM4.98, respectively.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 140 to 82, while 130 counters were unchanged, 1,253 untraded and 15 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 84.667 million shares worth RM80.555 million.

A dealer said the regional market received a boost after China's official purchasing managers' index for May expanded at the fastest pace in five months.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index rose 40.13 points to 9,114.59 points, the Industrial Index added 1.55 points to 3,191.77 points but the Finance Index lost 15.36 points to 17,367.25 points.

The FBM Emas Index gained 1.69 points to 12,947.44 points, the FBMT100 Index was 9.83 points higher at 12,605.1 points, the FBM Ace increased 21.13 points to 6,602.46 points but the FBM 70 eased 12.14 points to 14,033.09 points.

Among actives, Sona Petroleum added two sen to 61 sen, Seal Incorporated advanced 8.5 sen to eight sen while Hubline was flat at five sen.

Of the heavyweights, Axiata edged up six sen to RM6.85 but Public Bank fell 12 sen to RM21.48, CIMB slipped three sen to RM7.31 and TNB was flat at RM12.06.

-- Bernama