KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Bursa Malaysia started off the week easier after ending at an intra-day high last Friday, driven by mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights following the recent gains, dealers said.

At 9.27am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 3.30 points to 1,498.71 compared with 1,502.01 on Friday.

The index opened 4.44 points weaker at 1,497.57.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 309 to 145 while 265 counters were unchanged, 1,585 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 370.41 million units valued at RM229.76 million.

In a research note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it expects investors to keep an eye out for Malaysia’s inflation rate data which is scheduled to be released this week.

“Broadly speaking, we may anticipate heavyweights to be traded higher on the back of window dressing activities that is expected to emerge.

“Besides, traders may stay defensive, selecting the utilities sector with the ongoing fight against the Omicron variant,” it said.

The brokerage firm noted that the FBM KLCI extended its gains for the third session last Friday as selected heavyweights got a boost from the FTSE’s rebalancing activities.

“However, given that the Wall Street fell significantly last Friday over concerns on the rising Covid-19 Omicron cases as well as the more hawkish monetary policies going forward, we could expect some pullback in the local equities,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 1.0 sen to RM8.09, IHH Healthcare went up 3.0 sen to RM6.57, while Public Bank declined 2.0 sen to RM4.06, Petronas Chemicals shed 7.0 sen to RM8.73 and TNB fell 13 sen to RM9.38.

Of the actives, ATA IMS was flat at 68 sen, Borneo Oil earned half-a-sen to 3.0 sen, Top Glove rose 13 sen to RM2.29 and Careplus gained 8.0 sen to RM1.09.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 23.45 points lower at 10,896.87, the FBMT 100 Index went down 23.01 points to 10,599.70, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 13.69 points to 11,730.94.

The FBM 70 fell 28.63 points to 13,971.22 and the FBM ACE declined 20.02 points to 6,257.80.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.92 of-a-point to 195.88, the Financial Services Index lost 37.90 points to 15,245.18, and the Plantation Index slid 46.75 points to 6,383.22. — Bernama