KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 ― The benchmark index on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on a mixed note, with mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights limiting gains amid a cautious tone in the regional bourses, dealers said.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 5.32 points to 1,524.10, compared to yesterday’s close of 1,518.78.

The key index opened 0.77 of a point higher at 1,519.55, and moved between 1,517.32 and 1,527.84 throughout the session.

On the broader market, however, losers led gainers 389 to 341, while 389 counters were unchanged, 1,160 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.60 billion units worth RM956.71 million.

In a note today, Rakuten Trade said the overnight Wall Streets was mixed as solid earnings from Walmart and Home Depot showed that consumer spending should be strong enough to avert a recession in the US.

"The DJI Average jumped by 240 points while the Nasdaq was down by 25 points as the US 10-year yield inched slightly higher at 2.81 per cent. Back home, the FBM KLCI rallied mainly due to broad-based buying especially on telcos which we recommended on Monday.

"With more inflows of foreign funds expected to take advantage of the reasonable valuation of the local bourse and cheap ringgit, we believe buying should remain on underperformers, namely the utility and telecom sectors. Thus, there should be more leg from the index which is seen to hover between the 1,515-1,530 range today,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 2.0 sen to RM8.99, IHH Healthcare went up 3.0 sen to RM6.52, Public Bank advanced 1.0 sen to RM4.66, Petronas Chemicals gained 6.0 sen to RM8.81 while CIMB was flat at RM5.45.

Of the actives, Hartalega declined 7.0 sen to RM1.70, G3 Global was flat at 3.0 sen while Metronic Global and Pegasus Heights earned half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and 1.0 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 25.29 points higher at 10,774.82, the FBMT 100 Index picked up 26.84 points to 10,525, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 37.79 points to 10,939.70 but the FBM 70 slipped 7.52 points to 12,773.31 and the FBM ACE shed 50.47 points to 4,917.54.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index perked up 11.79 points to 16,823.13 and the Energy Index went up 0.11 of-a-point to 657.62, while the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.23 of-a-point to 184.11 and the Plantation Index jumped 28.16 points to 7,286.88. ― Bernama