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

At lunch break, the FBM KLCI had gained 5.32 points to 1,524.10, compared with Tuesday’s (Aug 16) close at 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 morning 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 1.6 billion units worth RM956.71 million.

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

“The Dow Jones Industrial 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%. Back home, the KLCI rallied mainly due to broad-based buying, especially for telcos (telecommunications companies), which we recommended on Monday.

“With more inflows of foreign funds expected to take advantage of the reasonable valuation of [stocks on] the local bourse and a cheap ringgit, we believe buying should remain for underperformers, namely the utility and telecommunications sectors. Thus, there should be more legs for the index, which is seen to hover in the 1,515-1,530 range today (Wednesday),” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) added two sen to RM8.99, IHH Healthcare Bhd went up three sen to RM6.52, Public Bank Bhd advanced one sen to RM4.66, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd gained six sen to RM8.81, while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was flat at RM5.45.

Of the actives, Hartalega Holdings Bhd declined seven sen to RM1.70, G3 Global Bhd was flat at three sen, while Metronic Global Bhd earned half a sen to 5.5 sen, and Pegasus Heights Bhd, too, rose half a sen to one sen.

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, 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.