Bursa Malaysia opened higher, driven by cheap stock buying activity despite the Wall Street overnight trading session showing weak performance.
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index rose 5.82 points to 1,581.66 from 1,575.84 when it closed on Thursday afternoon.
Bernama reported that the main index opened this morning was 4.34 points higher at 1,580.18.
In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers by 257 to 215 while 306 counters were unchanged, 1,398 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover was 516.42 million units worth RM185.68 million.
While on Wall Street, the S&P 500 index fell 0.44%, the Dow Jones was down 0.38% and the Nasdaq was down 0.72%.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd in its research note said traders may take advantage of oil and gas counters after the recent increase.
"We also feel that market participants will participate in consumer, plantation and furniture related stocks ahead of their respective financial year reporting seasons next week," the firm said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM7.94, Public Bank rose two sen to RM4.13, Top Glove added three sen to RM6.10 while PChem and Tenaga were flat at RM7.47 and RM9 respectively. 85.
The most active counters, Nexchange Trading rose 2.5 sen to 79.5 sen, Pegasus half a sen higher at three sen while Sapura Energy and Lambo were flat at 15.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively.
Meanwhile, Velesto Energy dropped half a sen to 17.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 28.66 points to 11,598.62, the FBMT 100 Index rose 36.4 points to 11,284.11 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index 40.48 points higher at 13,096.81.
FBM 70 added 29.56 points to 15,260.56 and FBM ACE increased 88.39 points to 11,176.35.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 14.24 points to 14,788.88 while the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.2 points to 181.25 and the Plantation Index rose 15.95 points to 7,191.83.
