KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, despite the mixed global and regional performances of peers as well as overnight trade on Wall Street.

At 9.03 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.93 points higher at 1,728.6 from Monday's close of 1,726.67.

The index opened 0.37 of-a-point stronger at 1,727.04.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 126 to 92, while 177 counters were unchanged, 1,513 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Volume stood at 89.64 million units valued at RM44.47 million.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended 0.1 per cent lower at 2,978 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to inch 0.2 per cent higher.

Public Bank Investment Bank said in a note that the local bourse would perform lower today after steep losses for energy stocks ensured that US and European stock markets made a soft start to the week.

"In China, data showed the economy growing 6.7 per cent in the second quarter, the slowest pace since 2016," it added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, Maxis and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM9.57, RM23.02, RM8.87, RM5.48 and RM18.90 respectively.

Among actives, MyEG rose two sen to RM1.03, Diversified Gateway, Hubline, DBE Gurney Resources and Ahmad Zaki Resources were each half-a-sen higher at 7.5 sen, 7.5 sen, 3.5 sen and 44 sen.

United Plantations was the biggest gainer in the opening session, bagging 20 sen to RM27.00, while British American Tobacco topped the decliners list, losing 26 sen to RM32.84.

The FBM Emas Index was 7.32 points higher at 12,209.16, the FBMT 100 Index increased 9.47 points to 12,013.12, but the FBM 70 declined 2.87 points to 14,934.51.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 15.3 points to 12,322.67, but, the FBM Ace Index trimmed 9.11 points to 5,368.39.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 6.34 points to 17,045.64, as the Industrial Index declined 5.8 points to 3,183.17 and the Plantation Index eased 16.79 points to 7,502.57.