KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Bursa Malaysia turned mixed at midmorning, supported by renewed buying activities in selected heavyweight counters, dealers said.

At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 2.16 points to 1,546.87 from Monday’s close of 1,544.71. The benchmark index opened 0.24 of-a-point higher at 1,544.95.

On the broader market, however, decliners surpassed gainers 467 to 327, while 404 counters were unchanged, 1,072 untraded and 12 suspended. Turnover amounted to 1.83 billion units worth RM827.24 million.

ActivTrades’ trader Anderson Alves told Bernama that Asian stock markets are likely to experience cautious trade on Tuesday, ahead of the release of the crucial United States (US) Consumer Price Index (CPI) data later in the session.

"Market volatility is anticipated ahead of the CPI data. An outcome exceeding expectations could intensify speculation about monetary tightening, potentially adjusting expectations for interest rate cuts in the second quarter and affecting risk-sensitive assets following recent dovish response to weaker US data,” he said.

Additionally, Alves said attention will be directed towards Japanese manufacturing data and the upcoming Japanese government bond auction, especially in light of the potentially pivotal discussions on monetary policy and wages this week.

"The conclusion of Japan’s ‘shunto’ wage negotiations on March 13, followed by the announcement of the initial results by the major labour union Rengo on March 15, could influence market sentiments,” he added.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank was flat at RM9.82 and Public Bank improved 1.0 sen to RM4.31, while CIMB, Tenaga Nasional and Petronas Chemicals gained 4.0 sen each to RM6.71, RM11.28 and RM6.89, respectively.

Among the active stocks, Hong Seng and Twl Holdings were flat at 2.0 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively, Pan Malaysia went up 4.5 sen to 18.5 sen while CTOS slipped 31 sen to RM1.14.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 8.05 points firmer at 11,461.63, the FBMT 100 Index added 11.26 points to 11,131.77, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 8.86 points to 11,459.53.

The FBM 70 Index shed 2.12 points to 15,436.17 and the FBM ACE Index slipped 38.82 points to 4,659.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 30.0 points to 17,434.65 and the Plantation Index increased by 28.59 points to 7,331.53, while the Energy Index eased 0.40 of-a-point to 894.21 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.19 points to 175.22. — Bernama