KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 ― Share prices opened higher on Bursa Malaysia this morning on renewed buying support for local equities, dealers said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,824.82, up 2.76 points, after opening 1.75 points better at 1,823.81.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said after plunging to a low of 1,817, before staging a subsequent partial recovery to close at 1,822 yesterday, the FBM KLCI could face renewed selling pressure today.

“Technically speaking, the benchmark index’s upside may be capped at the immediate resistance threshold of 1,825 with its key support currently seen at the psychological 1,800 level,” it said in a note today.

On the corporate front, the research firm said stocks that could attract  interest today were Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd, which has received a preliminary interest from a listed Japanese company to buy a 51 per cent stake in the packaging company at a tentative maximum price of RM3.74 per share.

Separately, the share prices of companies that own water concessions in Selangor may see uncertainty ahead given that only Puncak Niaga and Kumpulan

Perangsang Selangor have accepted the joint offer by the state and Federal governments to acquire their water assets while Gamuda has rejected the plan under a water industry consolidation exercise.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index improved 13.59 points to 16,440.18, the Plantation Index added 56.8 points to 8,984.88 and the Industrial Index rose 5.79 points to 3,157.28.

The FBM Emas Index was up 18.47 points at 12,654.72, the FBMT100 Index gained 17.65 points to 12,324.4, the FBM 70 increased 16.12 points to 13,960.81 but the FBM Ace lost 2.16 points to 6,594.26.

Gainers outpaced losers 140 to 99, while 133 counters were unchanged, 1,259 untraded and 15 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 61.02 million shares worth RM47.85 million.     

Among actives, Malaysia Airline was flat at 24 sen, Astral Supreme lost half-a-sen to 21.5 sen and Prestariang added three sen to RM3.42.

As for heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB earned three sen to RM9.64 and RM7.06, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional lost two sen to RM11.92. ― Bernama