KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Bursa Malaysia remained mixed at midday with the benchmark index in positive territory, but market breadth proved negative.

At 12.30pm the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.64 points higher at 1,597.19 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,594.59.

It opened 1.67 points higher at 1,597.26.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 340 to 290, while 397 counters remained unchanged, 932 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.13 billion units worth RM702.47 million.

According to an analyst, the market ended mixed at noon due to consistent selling in small capital and utility related stocks, but saw an uptake in selected heavyweights.

"Institutional support lifted the market barometre into positive territory as of lunch break. However, the index could slip into the red at close,” she said.

For the heavyweights, Axiata rose three sen to RM4.99 and Digi bagged two sen to RM5.00, Petronas Chemical gained four sen to RM7.19, and Press Metal improved four sen to RM4.83 as MISC jumped five sen to RM7.28.

As for the actives, Vsolar shed one sen to 14 sen, Jaks gained 2.5 sen to 84.5 sen, Berjaya Land was up one sen to 23.5 sen, while Meridian, KNM and AirAsiaX all shed half-a-sen to 8.5 sen, 37 sen and 19 sen respectively.

The FBM Ace gained 13.62 points to 4,619.79, the FBM 70 slipped 12.68 points to 14,143.06, the FBM Emas Index recovered 16.47 points to 11,318.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index appreciated 22.19 points to 11,857.89 and the FBMT 100 Index was 17.07 points higher at 11,153.15.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened 25.92 points to 15,538.08, the Plantation Index rose 7.36 points to 6,758.13, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.37 of-a-point higher at 150.01. — Bernama