KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia traded higher in the early session today with stronger investor optimism over the local economy following positive exports data and a stronger ringgit.

At 9.34 am, the key index was up 7.39 points to 1,696.64, after opening 6.58 points easier at 1,682.67.

Market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced decliners 272 to 199, while 228 counters were unchanged, 1,097 untraded and 33 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 607.48 million shares worth RM372.28 million.

The FBM Emas Index increased 37.42 points to 11,693.63, the FBMT100 was up 37.96 points to 11,398.49, the FBM Emas Shariah surged 61.62 points to 12,439.04 and the FBM Ace improved 40.01 points to 5,819.06.

The FBM 70, however, fell 2.71 points to 12,683.19

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index declined 16.22 points to 14,461.19, the Industrial Index added 12.35 points to 3,352.28 and the Plantation Index went up 18.65 points for 7,464.38.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM8.51, Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM18.40, TNB appreciated six sen to RM12.26 and Sime Darby rose five sen to RM8.85.

Among the actively-traded stocks were KNM Group, which was flat at 55.5 sen, followed by China Automobile, iDimension and Globaltech, which were up half-a-sen each to 14.5 sen, 11 sen and 5.5 sen respectively. — Bernama