Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded slightly higher in the early session Friday on mild buying interest after
yesterday's gains, dealers said.

At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.41 of a point to 1,721.38, after opening one point weaker at 1,719.97.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse could close the week with a weak performance today on the back of slow trading interest.

"From a technical perspective, the benchmark FBM KLCI may back off slightly from its immediate resistance barrier of 1,720," it said in a research note today.

The research house said the news flow that was of added interest today would be the external trade data for July due for release around noon.

"Following growing concerns over Malaysia's deteriorating current account position and falling Ringgit, investors will be keen to know the country's latest economic situation," HwangDBS said.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 5.72 points to 16,128.5, but the Plantation Index slipped 2.15 points to 8,117.21 and the Industrial Index added 2.15 points to 2,904.55.

The FBM Emas Index gained 10.27 points to 11,960.02, the FBM100 Index advanced 8.84 points to 11,717.63, the FBM 70 Index surged 35.27 points to 13,652.44 and the FBM Ace rose 4.81 points to 4,955.75.

Gainers led losers 78 to 48, while 108 counters were unchanged, 1,330 untraded and 13 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 48.45 million shares worth RM24.38 million.

Among actives, ETI Tech Corp eased half a sen to 6.5 sen, Ho Wah Genting earned one sen to 22 sen while Luster Industries and Daya Materials were flat at nine sen and 31.5 sen, respectively.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed three sen to RM9.85, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.41 while Axiata and CIMB gained one sen each to RM6.76 and RM6.55, respectively.-- Bernama