KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher today on renewed buying momentum in heavyweight counters.

At 9am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched up 0.56 of-a-point to 1,772.46 against yesterday's close of 1,771.90.

After 10 minutes of trading, the key index was 1.78 points better at 1,773.68.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 150 to 90 with 187 counters unchanged, 1,407 untraded and 22 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 143.27 million shares worth RM64.70 million.

JF Apex Securities said the FBM KLCI was expected to remain sideways, below the resistance of 1,780 points, following the mixed performance in the United States and Europe.

"The US markets ended mixed overnight with the Dow extending its record high amid investigation into Russia's involvement in the US election. Earlier, European stocks advanced as the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged,” it said in a note today.

Meanwhile, Public Investment Bank Bhd said the FBM KLCI could open on a cautious note as global markets adopted a "risk-off" bias ahead of the release of US non-farm payrolls data tonight.

It added that the Wall Street showed signs of fatigue after its recent steady ascend to record highs.

Local heavyweights CIMB jumped 11 sen to RM6.71 while Petronas Chemicals, Astro and RHB Bank all gained three sen each to RM7, RM2.65 and RM5.02, respectively.

Both Maybank and Sime Darby added one sen each to RM9.65 and RM9.41, respectively, while Public Bank rose two sen to RM20.62 and TNB declined two sen to RM14.16.

Among active counters, CCK Consolidated and TRC Synergy went up 2.5 sen each to RM1 and 78.5 sen, respectively, Evergreen Fibreboard increased two sen to 91.5 sen, Rev Asia improved 3.5 sen to 98.5 sen and Sterling Progress edged up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index expanded 11.86 points to 12,617.01, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 9.62 points to 12,262.8, the FBM Ace bagged 12.13 points to 6,537.01, the FBM 70 grew 1.48 points to 14,952.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 2.66 points higher at 12,742.0.

Sectorwise, the Finance Index rose 40.03 points to 16,818.28, the Plantation Index added 2.5 points to 7,852.44 and the Industrial Index perked 0.73 of-a-point to 3,260.88. — Bernama