At 9am the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 0.40 points at 1,601.19 from Thursday's close at 1,600.79.
The index opened strong 2.94 points at 1,603.73.
It opened slightly higher after taking Wall Street’s overnight signal that bounced on bargain-hunting activity after big losses the day before.
On the broader market, investors saw losers outpacing gainers by 173 to 69, while 248 counters were unchanged, 1,746 untraded and 16 suspended.
Total turnover at 162.24 million units worth RM50.33 million.
A note from Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the KLCI recorded gains in tandem with its regional counterparts after investors digested the minutes of a Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting involving an aggressive rate hike.
Heavyweights saw Public Bank Bhd add 1 sen to RM4.69, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd fell 8 sen to RM10.10 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd declined 4 sen to RM5.31 while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and IHH Healthcare Bhd remained at RM8.83 and RM6.41.
Active stocks saw Brahim’s Holdings Bhd down 8 sen at 3.5 sen, TWL Holdings Bhd and Yong Tai Bhd up 0.5 sen at 8.5 sen and 13 sen while China Ouhua Winery Holdings Ltd and TWL grants remained at 9.5 sen and 4.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 index added 8.93 points at 11,162.06, the FBM Emas index increased 10.72 points at 11,510.58, the FBM Emas Shariah index reached 19.19 points at 12,153.74, the FBM 70 drove 36.20 points at 13,971.57 while the FBM ACE decreased 5.90 points at 5,822.42.
In terms of sector, the Products and Services Industry index declined 0.19 points at 211.37, the Financial Services index declined 15.56 points at 16,753.88 while the Plantation index increased 11.17 points at 8,347.93.
