KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Stocks on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a mixed note today as gains in selected heavyweights limited losses, dealers said.

At the midday break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,871.31, down 0.27 of a point, after fluctuating in a tight range of between 1,870.1 and 1,874.1.          

A dealer said the mixed performance was in line with the regional sentiment, which was affected by concerns over the instability in Iraq.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index dipped 21.55 points to 17,123.59, and the Plantation Index fell 19.96 points to 9,168.29, but the Industrial Index rose 5.54 points to 3,202.1.

The FBM Emas Index was 1.55 points better at 12,952.05, the FBMT100 Index gained 2.99 points to 12,589.05, the FBM 70 climbed 22.24 points to 14,068.44, and the FBM Ace advanced 12.09 points to 6,666.98.

Advancers led decliners 329 to 327, while 336 counters were unchanged, 637 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 847.02 million shares worth RM695.9 million.

Among actives, Malaysia Airlines gained one sen to 22 sen, China Stationery and PDZ Holdings earned half a sen each to 12.5 sen and 16 sen respectively, while Minetech Resources was flat at 15 sen.Of the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB declined two sen each to RM9.80 and RM7.15 respectively, Public Bank was flat at RM20.78, while TNB rose two sen to RM11.72. — Bernama