KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 ― Bursa Malaysia remained higher at mid-morning, boosted by the emerging buying trend in selected heavyweights, amidst the mixed sentiment in regional markets, dealers said.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.09 points to 1,569.29 from yesterday's close of 1,563.20.

On the scoreboard, gainers edged past decliners 351 to 349, while 389 counters were unchanged, 1,178 untraded and 40 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.32 billion units worth RM544.93 million.

ActivTrades’ Anderson Alves said Asian equities were mixed on Thursday after a choppy session on Wall Street as markets digested the United States (US) Consumer Price Index data which revealed that the US inflation rate had hit a 39-year high of seven per cent -- in line with expectations.

In a research note today, he said some soft defensive flows are being seen in some asset classes, with Japanese equities underperforming on the back of a stronger yen and Covid-19 woes.

"So far, the market's reaction to the Omicron wave has been moderate, but it is worth paying attention to worries about further impacts to global supply chains which could trigger risk-off trade.

"The big macro theme and narrative for the year for Asian equities and credit markets will be monetary policy and inflation in the US, as a hawkish acceleration from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) could drive technical outflows from local assets,” he said.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank gained 6.0 sen to RM8.47, Petronas Chemicals rose 15 sen to RM9.15, Public Bank slipped 1.0 sen to RM4.24 while IHH Healthcare and CIMB were flat at RM6.65 and RM5.56, respectively.

As for the actives, Pegasus Heights and AHB Holdings earned half-a-sen each to 1.5 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively, MQ Technology added 1.0 sen to 9.5 sen and Kanger International was flat at 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 31.54 points better at 11,333.66, FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 35.15 points to 12,112.49, FBMT 100 Index improved 31.82 points to 11,026.22, while FBM 70 shed 6.59 points to 14,218.66 and the FBM ACE trimmed 19.72 points to 6,562.92.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index climbed 51.22 points to 6,791.14, the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 1.6 points to 206.96, and the Financial Services Index jumped 84.66 points to 16,179.57. ― Bernama