KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Bursa Malaysia was easier at mid-morning on selling led by transportation, consumer and plantation-related counters.

However, the index was supported by some buying in selected heavyweights and small-cap stocks.

At 11.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.16 points to 1,543.30 from Friday’s close of 1,544.46, after opening 1.49 points weaker at 1,542.97 this morning.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 329 to 319, with 351 counters unchanged, 968 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.35 billion shares worth RM648.22 million.

A dealer said that market sentiment remained upbeat on the lower liners despite the sluggish key index performance as of late.

"We see rotational play remaining on the table but any further gains will be dictated by a slew of corporate earnings releases over the coming one to two weeks,” the dealer said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.50, Public Bank gained four sen to RM17.66, Tenaga was flat at RM12.68 while Petronas Chemicals was one sen lower at RM6.49.

Of the actives, Securemetric and DGB Asia inched down one sen each to 14 sen and eight sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index inched up 0.34 point to 11,066.42, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 16.91 points to 11,882.12 and the FBMT 100 Index erased 2.24 points to 10,850.76.

The FBM 70 was 21.24 points better at 14,092.26 and the FBM Ace added 12.01 points to 5,631.82.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.20 point to 146.91, the Financial Services Index went up by 39.78 points to 14,612.74 and the Plantation Index erased 19.78 points to 7,315.33. — Bernama