KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Bursa Malaysia opened firmer today, driven by buying interest in selected heavyweight counters following the market’s retreat after a five-session rally last week.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose by 0.35 of a point to 1,748.41 from Friday’s close of 1,748.06.

The benchmark index opened 5.94 points firmer at 1,754.0.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 242 to 208. A total of 352 counters were unchanged, 1,851 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover stood at 260.89 million shares worth RM151.45 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed higher as both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit record highs.

He said the overall sentiment was bolstered by better-than-expected job data in addition to the strong earnings thus far.

However, he said uncertainty remained over West Asia as the United States and Iran exchanged fire, pushing the Brent crude higher at US$101 per barrel.

“Despite this, we remain confident that the index will trend higher, underscored by persistent foreign buying participation. For today, we expect the index to trend within the 1,745-1,760 range,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, YTL Corp added five sen to RM2.31, Gamuda rose three sen to RM4.53, and Maybank gained four sen to RM11.22. Public Bank fell three sen to RM4.85, and RHB Bank was flat at RM8.30.

Among the most active stocks, Velesto and VS Industry were flat at 32 sen and 19.5 sen, respectively, Zetrix AI and SMRT increased one sen each to 88 sen and 22 sen, while AirAsia slipped two sen to RM1.25.

Among the top gainers, Hume Cement advanced 11 sen to RM3.22, Press Metal and KESM strengthened 10 sen each to RM8.78 and RM4.66, respectively, IOI Properties rose nine sen to RM4.57, and Petronas Chemicals inched up eight sen to RM5.45.

Among the top losers, United Plantations shed 16 sen to RM30.64, Time DotCom lost 14 sen to RM6.21, MISC, VSTecs and PPB eased six sen each to RM8.21, RM5.39 and RM11.14, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 7.18 points to 12,937.42, the FBM Top 100 Index gained 7.70 points to 12,780.23, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 13.53 points to 12,851.84, and the FBM Mid 70 Index edged up 33.26 points to 18,517.48, and the FBM ACE Index climbed 2.87 points to 4,614.19.

By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 26.30 points to 20,247.51, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.16 points to 195.81, the Energy Index was 2.45 points higher at 814.76, and the Plantation Index leapt 33.97 points to 8,872.38. — Bernama