KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): The main index at Bursa Malaysia opened higher Thursday, lifted by select index-linked banking stocks, led by Public Bank Bhd.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI rose 5.42 points to 1,642.11.

The early gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Public Bank, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, UWC Bhd, Asia File Corp Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Toyo Ventures Holdings Bhd and Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd.

Bloomberg said Treasury yields retained their recent declines amid optimism the American economy will continue to benefit from government support.

Asian shares opened with small losses, it said.

Rakuten Trade said Wall Street were mixed amid recent record run as traders remain sidelined.

It said the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat at 30,060 with the tech heavy Nasdaq closed 56 points higher at almost the 13,130 mark.

“As a result, we reckon regional markets to continue to be mixed.

“Domestically, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend at a narrow range along the 1,630/40 range today due to the lack of catalysts.

“Yesterday’s strong buying on banks stocks could be a sign that foreign funds may be trickling into the local bourse following an inflow of around RM750 million since 7th January.

“Meanwhile, we remain positive on heightened trading activities amongst the smaller caps today,” it said.