Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in the early session today as the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.75 points higher at 1,461.55.

At 9.15am, the key index was up 5.01 points to 1,462.81, in line with the bullish movement on regional markets.

However, dealers said investors remained cautious, amid the lack of a fresh catalyst in the market despite some progress among European leaders in resolving the eurozone debt crisis.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said there was no comprehensive plan to resolve the eurozone crisis following the high-profile summit last night.

"While an agreement to recapitalise the European banks has been reached, no announcement was made on the write-down of Greece's' sovereign debt and the boosting of a rescue fund size for the region.

"Still, key US equity indices jumped between 0.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent yesterday due to better US economic data and hopes that the European problems would be solved eventually.

"This may give a short-term boost to Asian equities today. The Malaysian bourse will likely climb too, with its benchmark FBM KLCI rising towards its immediate resistance target of 1,475," the research firm added.

Meanwhile, trading in Hirotako Holdings Bhd's securities was suspended, effective 9.00am. Its share price stood at 88 sen.

The Finance Index rose 44.271 points to 13,191.41 while the Plantation Index added 15.98 points to 7,402.54

The FBM Emas improved 31.609 points to 9,959.80, the FBMT100 increased 32.20 points to 9,783.26 and the FBM70 was up by 30.0 points to 10,688.68 while the FBM Ace added 12.63 points to 3,986.32.

Gainers led losers by 154 to 63 while 118 counters were unchanged.

Volume stood at 124.711 million lots valued at RM102.83 million.

For the active counters, Harvest Court Industries gained 36 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum added 1.5 sen to 69 sen, Dutaland-Wa fell three sen to 10 sen and Land and General earned one sen 38.5 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Sime Darby rose one sen each to RM8.28 and RM8.86 respectively, CIMB declined three sen to RM7.23, while Petronas Chemicals flat at RM6.19.

Bursa Malaysia was closed yesterday for the Deepavali holiday.-- Bernama