KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Bursa Malaysia extended last week’s gains to open the week higher, driven by continuous buying support in selected heavyweights amid positive sentiment on the regional market, dealers said.

At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 2.50 points to 1,508.78 from Friday’s close of 1,506.28.

The barometer index opened 1.83 point better at 1,508.11.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 288 to 178, while 337 counters were unchanged, 1,485 untraded and 64 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 476.69 million units worth RM220.03 million.

Malacca Securities said for this week, the market should be watching closely several events such as the China manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the United States (US) Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and jobs data in the US.

"Overall, we expect buying support to be sustained within the Malaysian stock market. On the commodity markets, Brent oil continues to climb higher, currently hovering above the US$83 per barrel mark amid potential China stimulus packages, coupled with the ongoing tension in the Middle East region,” it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM9.14 and RM4.37 respectively, CIMB rose 3.0 sen to RM6.21 while Tenaga Nasional slipped 2.0 sen to RM10.52 and Petronas Chemicals fell 1.0 sen to RM6.69.

As for the actives, Minetech added 1.0 sen to 16.5 sen, Master Tec earned half-a-sen to 39.5 sen, YNH Property went up 3.0 sen to 74.5 sen while MRCB shed 1.0 sen to 64 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 21.29 points higher at 11,254.08, the FBM 70 Index increased 39.69 points to 15,322.90, the FBMT 100 Index rose 20.64 points to 10,906.02, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 28.25 points to 11,317.91 and the FBM ACE Index perked 1.57 points to 4,843.70.

Sector-wise, the Property Index improved by 1.98 points to 926.40, the Plantation Index gained 32.71 points to 7,198.43 and the Energy Index picked up 8.70 points to 887.25.

The Financial Services Index bagged 33.33 points to 16,859.03 and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.08 of-a-point to 174.0. — Bernama