KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher, in early trading session today, on bargain hunting of discounted stocks after five straight weeks of correction, dealers said.

At 9.30am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,841.84, up 1.34 points, after opening better at 1,841.05, bolstered especially by gains in blue-chip financial counters.

Leading the top gainers' list were Hong Leong Financial Group which rose 20 sen to RM17.58, Press Metal Bhd-WC and FIAMMA added 15 sen each to RM3.94 and RM2.49, respectively.

Heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.87, Public Bank was flat at RM18.90 and Tenaga Nasional increased two sen to RM12.30.

Among actives, Berjaya Corp gained two sen to 59 sen, PDZ Holdings fell two sen to 29 sen and Berjaya Corp Warrants was flat at 26.5.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 282 to 129 while 246 counters were unchanged and 974 untraded. 

Turnover stood at 553.89 million shares worth RM195.88 million.              

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index fell 20.86 points to 8,395.84 points, the Industrial Index gained 1.12 points to 3,209.11 points and the Finance Index rose 39.711 points to 17,184.48 points.

The FBM Emas Index edged up 12.17 points to 12,909.22 points, the FBMT100 Index improved 9.35 points to 12,487.1 points, the FBM Ace rose 58.02 points to 7.351.18 points and the FBM 70 added 11.61 points to 14,325.62 points. ― Bernama