KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Share prices opened slightly higher today on continued buying demand and following positive sentiment on the internal, external markets, dealers said.

At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.31 points better at 1,622.35, after opening 1.57 points higher at 1,622.61.

Market breadth improved with gainers outpacing decliners by 137 to 53, while 121 counters were unchanged, 1,495 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 63.22 million shares worth RM27.59 million.

Maybank Kim Eng in a note today recommended a "range trading" stance for the index.

"The KLCI October Futures narrowed to an 18.54-point discount against the FBM KLCI. We believe supports of 1,595 to 1,618 may be areas to nibble, while liquidation activities will cap rebounds at the resistance areas of 1,621 and 1,650," it said.

Yesterday, the FBM KLCI rose 17.72 points to 1,621.04, influenced by the higher indices regionally on the final day of the third quarter of 2015.

The FBM Emas Index rose 15.70 points to 11,217.33 as the FBMT100 gained 11.39 points to 10,932.46.But, the FBM Emas Shariah was 1.46 points lower at 11,887.59.

The FBM 70 increased points to 22.24 and the FBM Ace inched up 0.64 point to 5,568.19.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index went up 49.86 points to 13,964.22 and the Industrial Index added 9.33 points to 3,175.60, while the Plantation Index fell 10.29 points to 7,147.56.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM8.53, TNB was down two sen to RM12.00 with Public Bank rising 18 sen to RM17.70 and Axiata flat at RM5.80.

Among the actively-traded stocks was The Media Shoppe which slid half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, IFCA MSC rising one sen to 95.5 sen and Metronic Global flat at seven sen. — Bernama