KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Bursa Malaysia ended the choppy morning session mixed today, as gains in selected heavyweights were offset by profit-taking in overbought blue-chips and small-capitalised stocks.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was slightly higher by 0.44 of-a-point to 1,747.44, from Thursday’s close of 1,747.00.

The benchmark index moved between 1,746.25 and 1,749.61 throughout the morning session, after opening 1.15 points higher at 1,748.15 earlier.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers by 503 to 274, with 359 counters unchanged, 593 untraded and 24 others were suspended. 

Turnover stood at 2.09 billion shares worth RM979.45 million.  Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said profit-taking was largely expected considering the benchmark index’s overbought state currently following its recent gains.

"However, it is healthy for the market to consolidate recent strong gains and rebuild support for uptrend resumption ahead,” it said in a note.  Among key heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.01, while Petronas Chemicals and CIMB each rose two sen to RM7.53 and RM5.62, respectively.  Of the actives, EA Holdings added one sen to eight sen while China Automobile and Xidelang gained half-a-sen each to three sen and four sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 6.34 points lower at 12,374.77, FBMT100 Index fell 5.81 points to 12,025.83 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index lost 21.64 points to 12,775.27. 

The FBM 70 declined 40.36 points to 14,454.59 and the FBM Ace fell 28.15 points to 5,748.4. 

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index inched down 2.42 points to 3,277.61 and the Finance Index was 11.6 points better at 15,779.52.  

The Plantation Index gained 1.53 points to 8,181.97.  — Bernama