KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Bursa Malaysia turned mixed at mid-morning today with the benchmark barometer trending higher on buying support for index-linked heavyweights but weaker on broader market,  dealers said.

At 11.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI)  added 8.85 points to 1,779.86 after opening 3.29 points higher at 1,774.30 at 9 am. It closed at 1,771.01 yesterday.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 462 to 300, while 360 counters were unchanged, 659 untraded and 28 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.18 billion shares worth RM979.52 million.

Kenanga Research said the local bourse was still consolidating within a range of 1,760-1,784 on the back of declining trading volume observed.

"Key momentum indicators are rather listless at the moment, suggesting a directionless outlook ahead,” it said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 20 sen to RM9.56,  Public Bank shed four sen to RM20.04,   Petronas Chemical slid two sen sen to RM7.41, while TNB and Sime Darby were flat at RM13.82 and RM9.32 respectively.

Of actives, AirAsia X eased 1.5 sen to 43.5 sen, Inta Bina added five sen to 30 sen, DRB Hicom gained six sen to RM1.74, Dagang Nexchange edged up half-a-sen to 59.5 sen, and AirAsia garnered 20 sen to RM3.14.

Among index-linked gainers, CIMB Group rose 22 sen to RM6.35, Genting Malaysia gained 16 sen to RM6.11, AMMB Holdings went up 15 sen to RM5.42 and Hong Leong Financial jumped 36 sen to RM16.62.

The FBM Emas Index was 49.90 points higher at 12,724.46, the FBMT 100 Index gained 54.85 points to 12,350.61 and the FBM 70 added 8.29 points to 15,248.45.

The FBM Ace slipped 14.61 points to 6,541.11 and  the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 20.90 points to 12,968.43.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index surged 11.22 points to 8,065.05, the Finance Index jumped 228.56 points to 16,597.40 and the Industrial Index increased 5.73 points to 3,278.49. — Bernama