KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were higher in the early session today, as the overnight rally on Wall Street lifted buying sentiment for the local equities market.

At 9.11 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.26 points better at 1,710.17 from yesterday's close of 1,708.91, after opening 0.97 point higher at 1,709.88.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers by 159 to 77, with 170 counters unchanged, 1,317 untraded and eight others were suspended.   

Turnover amounted to 160.05 million shares worth RM63.68 million.

A dealer said the rebound in oil prices sparked the Wall Street rally, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.24 per cent to 18,096.27 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.08 per cent to 2,102.4.

"International benchmark Brent futures jumped 3.9 per cent to US$45.77 a barrel while US crude ended 3.77 per cent higher at US$42.63 a barrel," he said.

On the local front, Nestle emerged as the top gainer with its shares up 30 sen to RM75.30, British American Tobacco increased 22 sen to RM54.10 and Hong Leong Industries rose 18 sen to RM7.37.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.05, TNB gained eight sen to RM14.48 and Public Bank improved 14 sen to RM19.16.

Of the active stocks, AirAsia X and Sumatec inched up a sen each to 39.5 sen and 13 sen, respectively while Bumi Armada rose two sen to 79.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 6.89 points higher at 11,892.3, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 0.86 of-a-point to 12,446.73 and the FBMT100 Index increased 8.21 points to 11,585.96. 

The FBM Ace increased 23.34 points to 5,690.1 and the FBM 70 was 8.22 points better at 13,251.64.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index jumped 44.49 points to 14,889.03, while the Industrial Index lost 5.09 points to 3,257.99 and the Plantation Index declined 14.68 points to 7,714.96. — Bernama