KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were higher at the opening today, thanks to the positive overnight development on US-China trade front.

This sentiment was also in line with the other Asian shares, which received further boost with the expectation that the US Federal Reserve would follow the European Central Bank in slashing interest rates during its ongoing policy meeting.

At 9.03am, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 1.85 points to 1,654.61 from 1,652.76 at 5pm yesterday.

The barometer index opened 1.81 points better at 1,654.57.

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On the scoreboard, gainers beat losers 174 to 41, with 128 counters unchanged, 1,524 untraded and 20 suspended.

Turnover stood at 71.19 million worth RM38.50 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said key index stocks continue to find institutional support yesterday that looks to persist over the near term as the market outlook brightens with the renewed optimism over the resumption of the US-China trade negotiations.

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The US President Donald Trump yesterday tweeted that he is going to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 summit to restart their on-off trade war talks.

“We see Wall Street’s overnight positivity over the above development has also buoyed the local market further and sustained the near term upsides, albeit the broad based buying interest is still lacking and the technical indicators are veering back into the overbought zones,” it said in a note today.

The research company noted that among the stocks in focus include energy provider, Serba Dinamik, which have secured several contracts in Qatar and Malaysia.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.97, Public Bank added two sen to RM23.06, Tenaga fell two sen to RM12.98 while IHH was flat at RM5.62.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Mestron added one sen to 17.5 sen, Greatech and Berjaya were flat each at 99 sen and 19.5 sen, respectively, but Lambo was half-a-sen weaker at six sen.

The FBM Emas Index improved 22.78 points to 11,639.24, the FBMT 100 Index increased 20.87 points to 11,492.32 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 14.01 points higher at 11,912.92.

 The FBM 70 edged up 58.51 points to 14,353.91 and the FBM Ace gained 21.34 points to 4,374.86.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 31.19 points stronger at 16,714.81 and the Industrial Products & Services Index inched up 0.56 of-a-point to 160.53, but the Plantation Index was 17.56 points weaker at 6,924.45. — Bernama