KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) turned mixed at the end of the morning session today, on mild buying support.

At midday, the key index finished at 1,839.48, up 0.34 of a point after fluctuating between 1,836.11 and 1,841.77.

A dealer said trading was expected to be volatile today, influenced by uncertainty in the global economic outlook, with overnight losses on Wall Street also impacting the local bourse.

“Investors are worried that the geopolitical tension in Ukraine might flare up again. Most are reluctant to participate actively in the market,” he added.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 17.66 points to 16,558.18, the Industrial Index 18.81 points to 3,170.53 and the Plantation Index 16.94 points to 8,903.12.

The FBM Emas Index gained 2.39 points to 12,720.60, the FBMT100 Index 2.91 points to 12,379.16 and the FBM 70 5.43 points to 13,850.57. The FBM Ace dipped 20.6 points to 6,713.64.

Losers outpaced gainers 368 to 283, while 314 counters were unchanged, 657 untraded and 34 others suspended.

Turnover totalled 1.13 billion shares worth RM782.04 million.

Among actives, Symphony House rose 8 sen to 21.5 sen and PDZ Holdings gained 1 sen to 12.5 sen. Malaysia Airlines fell 0.5 sen to 22 sen.

As for the heavyweights, Maybank lost 1 sen to RM9.65 while TNB and CIMB were both flat at RM11.96 and RM7.12 respectively. — Bernama