Turnover stood at 988.23m units worth RM657.71m

BURSA Malaysia turned mixed at midday today, as renewed buying in selected heavyweights cancelled some earlier losses, amid cautious sentiment in the regional bourses, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.81 points to 1,385.28 from last Friday’s close of 1,382.47.

The barometer index opened 1.03 points higher at 1,383.50.

On the broader market, however, decliners thumped gainers 456 to 249, while 346 counters were unchanged, 1,294 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 988.23 million units worth RM657.71 million.

Public Investment Bank Bhd said the local benchmark index was expected to open lower today after the Wall Street stocks fell last Friday, after a downbeat survey of inflation expectations renewed concerns about the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) planned interest rate hikes.

“The University of Michigan’s monthly survey of US consumers showed that expectations of price increases over the next 12 months had risen to 5.1%, from 4.7%.

“The Fed has been aggressively raising interest rates in an effort to bring down inflation, keeping close tabs on consumer expectations which can fuel worker wage demands and make it harder to reduce the inflation rate,” it said in a note today.

It added that the inflation concerns outweighed more positive survey results on overall consumer sentiment, which beat forecasts from economists, and solid earnings reports from several of the country’s largest banks.

On the home front, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd went up six sen to RM8.51, Public Bank Bhd added one sen to RM4.21 and IHH Healthcare Bhd gained nine sen to RM5.81, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd slipped five sen to RM8.50 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was one sen lower at RM5.29.

Of the actives, Sunview Group Bhd jumped 20 sen to 49 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd advanced 4.5 sen to 73.5 sen, Careplus Group Bhd perked five sen to 37 sen and Widad Group Bhd increased 1.5 sen to 41 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 2.41 points to 9,855.91, the FBM 70 dipped 72.98 points to 11,831.72, the FBM T100 Index earned 0.09 of-a-point to 9,608.45, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 15.4 points to 9,839.39, and the FBM ACE improved 12.98 points to 4,665.08.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 38.37 points higher at 15,911.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.88 of-a-point to 169, the Plantation Index fell 20.83 points to 6,401.04, and the Energy Index trimmed 7.15 points to 661.54. — Bernama / pic TMR File