At 9.05am, the key index rose by 2.44 points to 1,423.29 from yesterday’s close of 1,420.85.

The benchmark index opened 0.19 of-a-point higher at 1,421.04.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 98 to 89, while 187 counters were unchanged, 1,850 not traded and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 76.80 million units worth RM41.18 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng expected bargain-hunting to emerge today especially on banking stocks while the plantation stocks may slide in view of the weaker crude palm oil price which closed at RM3,965 per tonne yesterday.

“We expect the index to trend within the 1,415-1,430 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM8.65, CIMB rose three sen to RM5.13, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.39, RM8.65 and RM6.38 respectively. Tenaga Nasional fell two sen to RM7.92 and Press Metal shed a sen to RM4.50.

The active counters included Datasonic, which rose a sen to 45 sen, Matang and Dagang Nexchange that were flat at 9.5 sen and 75.5 sen respectively.

Main market debutant Seng Fong Holdings declined four sen to 71 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum shaved off 4.5 sen to 88 sen and Eduspec shed half-a-sen to 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 14.36 points to 10,118.91, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 13.35 points to 10,162.06, the FBM 70 was 7.82 points higher at 12,181.09, the FBMT 100 Index improved 14.47 points to 9,876.91, and the FBM ACE went up 4.33 points to 4,631.05.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 16.09 points to 16,081.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 0.44 of-a-point to 175.04, and the Plantation Index widened 34.77 points to 6,506.56.