KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher, driven by continued buying activities in selected heavyweights as investors remained positive over the economic outlook, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.45 points to 1,566.65 from yesterday’s closing of 1,563.20.

The index, which opened 1.24 points lower at 1,561.96, moved between 1,560.29 and 1,570.14 throughout the session.

On the broader market, however, decliners thumped gainers 458 to 356, while 388 counters were unchanged, 1,065 untraded and 40 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.98 billion units valued at RM921.15 million.

In a note, Rakuten Trade said it expected the FBM KLCI to trend around the 1,560-1,570 today, supported by net foreign funds inflow.

"Yesterday’s intermittent correction among banking stocks suggests that buying interests could return today, but market undertone remains cautious amidst the higher regional volatility,” it said.

It said Wall Street ended in positive territory yesterday although the United States December inflation data came in sharply higher.

"Though the consumer price index (CPI) figure was largely within expectations, overall market sentiments remained rather cautious as the DJI Average gained a mere 38 points while Nasdaq was up 35 points to almost hitting the 15,190 mark.

"On the home front, last-minute buying activities helped pushed the index to close flat, having been in the red for most of yesterday’s session,” it added.

At midday, heavyweights Maybank added 5.0 sen to RM8.46, Petronas Chemicals jumped 11 sen to RM9.11 and Public Bank declined 2.0 sen to RM4.23, while IHH Healthcare and CIMB were flat at RM6.65 and RM5.56, respectively.

Of the actives, Pegasus Heights earned half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, AHB Holdings shed 4.0 sen to 24 sen while MQ Technology and Kanger International were flat at 8.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 15.24 points higher at 11,317.30, FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 12.13 points to 12,098.47 and FBMT 100 Index climbed 16.06 points to 11,010.46, while FBM ACE trimmed 33.80 points to 6,548.84 and FBM 70 went down 14.81 points to 14,210.44.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index garnered 83.34 points to 16,178.25, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.21 points to 206.53, while the Plantation Index perked 25.05 points to 6,764.97. ― Bernama