KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 ― Bursa Malaysia turned mixed at the mid-day break with the key index ending the morning session in positive territory, in tandem with regional markets, said a dealer.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.90 points, or 0.25 per cent to 1,544.32 from yesterday's close of 1,540.42. The benchmark index opened 0.58 points easier to 1,539.84.

However, the market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers 510 to 376 while 446 counters were unchanged, 1,032 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.30 billion units worth RM1.19 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that the FBM KLCI rebounded from a four-day decline on Wednesday as bargain-hunting activities emerged.

“Despite the better sentiment on the local front, the upside could be capped following the selldown in the United States (overnight). We expect investors to shift their focus back to defensive-related sectors such as consumer, utilities, and real estate investment trusts (REITs),” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank added six sen to RM9.66, CIMB gained seven sen to RM6.60 and Tenaga Nasional added 12 sen to RM11.64. Petronas Chemicals edged up two sen to RM6.85 and Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.14.

As for the actives, Borneo Oil, and Ignenieur Gudang inched down by half a sen to half a sen and 14 sen, respectively, while Eversendai gained 1.5 sen to 39 sen. Fitters Diversified and Avillion were flat at five sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index grew 22.25 points to 11,599.69, the FBM 70 Index climbed 7.76 points to 16,121.88 and the FBMT 100 Index jumped 22.47 points to 11,241.86. The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 14.50 points better at 11,771.81 and the FBM ACE Index shed 18.31 points to 4,907.06.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index picked up 0.56 points to 183.87 and the Financial Services Index expanded 22.16 points to 17,129.65.

The Energy Index slipped 8.53 points to 950.64 and the Plantation Index dropped 3.30 points to 7,354.58. ― Bernama