KUALA LUMPUR - Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session mixed as profit-taking in selected heavyweights emerged and in line with mixed sentiment on the regional bourses, dealers said.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.87 points to 1,533.60 from Friday's close of 1,531.33.
The index opened 2.48 points higher at 1,534.21 and fluctuated between 1,532.70 and 1,538.112 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 531 to 336, while 429 counters were unchanged, 993 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.90 billion units worth RM1.09 billion.
In a research note today, Rakuten Trade said the local bourse is expected to have some bargain-hunting activities today, following a week-long downtrend.
"Therefore, we anticipate the index to see some upside today and to hover within the 1,530-1,540 range though sentiments remains cautious,” it said.
Despite the imminent tapering by end-November, Rakuten Trade said Wall Street cheered the better-than-expected job data as all three major indices closed on record high again.
"The DJI Average was up 204 points while the Nasdaq was 31 points higher at almost the 16,000 mark. We expect regional markets to react positively on Wall Street’s performance today,” it added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and TNB advanced 1.0 sen each to RM8.02, RM4.04 and RM9.62 respectively, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.30 and IHH Healthcare dipped 9.0 sen to RM6.49.
Of the actives, Kanger International was flat at 3.5 sen, Ecomate rose 19 sen to 52 sen, NWP Holdings perked 2.0 sen to 34 sen, while CSH Alliance and AirAsia X earned half-a-sen each to 12 sen and 5.0 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 11.80 points to 11,352.33, the FBMT 100 Index declined 7.15 points to 10,983.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 32.44 points to 12,379.30, the FBM 70 eased 89.65 points to 15,022.87, while the FBM ACE slipped 86.14 points to 7,038.35.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.21 of-a-point to 202.77, the Plantation Index gave up 9.06 points to 6,717.51, and the Financial Services Index gained 10.67 points to 15,177.55.
- BERNAMA