KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session slightly higher amid mixed market sentiment.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 0.66 of-a-point to 1,622.51 on buying support in selected heavyweights such as banking and oil and gas stocks.

The key index opened 2.22 points better at 1,624.07 and moved between 1,618.98 and 1,625.21 throughout the session.

On the broader market, there were 663 gainers and 614 losers, while 403 counters were unchanged, 453 untraded and 31 others suspended.

Volume stood at 9.59 billion units worth RM4.05 billion.

Sentiment in the market was influenced by the country’s rating downgrade by Fitch Ratings, better crude oil prices and corporate earnings results as well as the positive overnight Wall Street performance.

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd said Malaysia was not the only country affected as rating downgrades were also done to countries with stronger credit such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

It expected a knee-jerk reaction to affect domestic financial markets.

"However, we observe that rating action does not affect the trajectory of financial markets in the long-term,” the research house said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose seven sen to RM8.27, Petronas Chemicals increased six sen to RM7.45, and IHH added two sen to RM5.47.

Public Bank, Tenaga and Top Glove eased four sen each to RM18.56, RM10.90 and RM6.61 respectively, while Hartalega gave up 14 sen for RM14.36.

Among the actives, Yong Tai bagged 6.5 sen to 43 sen, Top Builders gained five sen to 16 sen, Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen to 13 sen and Inix lifted 15.5 sen to 48.5 sen.

 On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 35.78 points to 11,776.5, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 33.16 points to 11,527.12 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index picked up 10.97 points to 13,518.14.

The FBM 70 rose 154.92 points to 15,404.47 and the FBM ACE bagged 90.7 points to 10,715.67.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.69 of-a-point to 174.48, the Plantation Index expanded 35.54 points to 7,384.94, while the Financial Services Index earned 81.22 points to 14,598.68. — Bernama