KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened mixed in the early trading today on mild profit-taking following yesterday's gains, dealers said.

At 9.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 5.16 points to 1,845.74, after opening 5.75 points lower at 1,845.15.

TA Securities said while upside resilience on blue chips should continue to support the index, trading should remain subdued with major concerns coming from the timeline on winding down of the US massive stimulus programme.

As for the index, immediate resistance stayed at 1,860, while immediate support retained at 1,833, it said in a market preview today.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 9.91 points to 16,860.09, the Plantation Index fell 32.26 points to 9,003.14, and the Industrial Index erased 14.64 points to 3,104.83.

The FBM Emas Index lost 27.05 points to 12,731.68 and the FBMT100 Index dwindled 24.31 points to 12,468.57.

 However, the FBM 70 rose 16.07 points to 14,134.59 and the FBM Ace was up 9.16 points to 5,675.4.   

Gainers led losers 59 to 48, with 99 counters unchanged, 1,361 untraded and 29 suspended.   

Turnover stood at 12.129 million shares worth RM7.933 million.     

Among actives, both Tiger Synergy and AirAsia X were flat at 22.5 sen and RM1.00, respectively.   

Of the heavyweights, TNB rose eight sen to RM10.94, while both CIMB and Axiata Group were flat at RM7.72 and RM6.87, respectively.

However, Maybank shed two sen to RM10 and Sime Darby eased three sen to RM9.53. — Bernama