KL shares trade higher in early session

Shares on Bursa Malaysia were traded higher in the early session today, despite the weaker overnight Wall Street, dealers said.

Forty-five minutes into the opening, the FBM KLCI was 2.12 points better at 1,809.28. It had opened at 1,804.8.

Gainers led losers 215 to 172, with 251 counters unchanged, 955 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover was mild with 340.75 million shares valued at RM173 million traded.

The leading US bellwethers on Wall Street slipped marginally overnight between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

Investors were essentially in a cautious mood pending the release of the US Federal Reserve's Oct 29 and Oct 30 meeting minutes later tonight.

It may give additional insights into the possible timing of an
unwinding of the bond purchases program, HwangDBS Vickers Research said in a note.

The Finance Index improved 9.35 points to 16,511.6, the Plantation Index rose 80.529 points to 9,054.39, and the Industrial Index was 4.69 points higher at 3,157.43.

The FBM Emas Index increased 16.58 points to 12,593.32, the FBMT100 Index advanced 13.87 points to 12,315.53, the FBM Ace fell 5.22 points to 5,672.3 and the FBM 70 rose 13.87 points to 14,346.94.

Among actives, Patimas Computers fell two sen to 1.5 sen, Malaysia Airlines dropped one sen to 31.5 sen and Sumatec Resources gained two sen to 35.5 sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank slipped three sen to RM9.62, Sime Darby rose one sen to RM9.76 and Axiata lost four sen to RM6.73