KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading today, with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rising 6.82 points to 1,871.07 as at 9.12am.

The key index, which opened 2.12 points better at 1,866.37, was lifted by renewed buying interest following improved external conditions.

Gains were mostly spotted in finance and banking stocks led by Maybank, which rose 10 sen to RM9.94 with 579,300 lots traded.

Hong Leong Financial advanced 26 sen to RM15.78, AMMB Holdings improved five sen to RM7.29, Public Bank gained four sen to RM21.18, CIMB perked three sen to RM7.25, and Hong Leong Bank added two sen to RM13.90.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 143 to 87, while 149 counters were unchanged, 1,226 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 108.474 million shares worth RM60.297 million.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index soared 90.77 points to 17,328.85, the Plantation Index gained 5.57 points to 9,089.74, but the Industrial Index slipped 3.48 points to 3,153.67.

The FBM Emas Index advanced 35.69 points to 12,933.89, the FBMT100 Index was 35.62 points higher at 12,581.71, the FBM Ace increased 20.5 points to 6,584.51, but the FBM 70 shed 0.25 point to 14,037.96.

Among actives, ETI Tech inched up half-a-sen to 11 sen, while Luster Industries, Sumatec and Astral were all flat at 10.5 sen, 26.5 sen and 15 sen respectively.

Of the heavyweights, TNB gained two sen to RM12.08, Axiata rose five sen to RM6.85, but Sime Darby eased five sen to RM9.48.

-- Bernama