KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 ― Bursa Malaysia finished the morning trading session mixed, with buying in selected heavywights limiting losses amid weaker sentiment in the regional markets, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.33 points to 1,461.95 from 1,460.62 at yesterday’s close.

The key index, which opened 0.64 of a point easier at 1,459.98, moved between 1,458.27 and 1,463.30 during the session.

The broader market was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 461 to 326, while 435 counters were unchanged, 1,089 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.97 billion units worth RM937.14 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the accumulation of stocks seen yesterday is expected to continue amid improving trading volume over the past few days.

He told Bernama that the benchmark index is forecast to trend in the 1,460-1,470 range today.

“Wall Street continued with its sluggish performance as concerns over interest rates returned to spook sentiment as the US 10-year yield edged higher to 4.296 per cent. As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 200 points while the Nasdaq slumped by 148 points,” he said.

Back home, Maybank was 1.0 sen higher at RM9.19, Public Bank and CIMB rose 2.0 sen each to RM4.27 and RM5.74, respectively, Petronas Chemicals improved 3.0 sen to RM7.15, and Tenaga Nasional declined 7.0 sen to RM9.89.

Of the actives, Classita and JAKS Resources eased half-a-sen each to 8.0 sen and 22 sen, respectively, Ekovest trimmed 2.0 sen to 52.5 sen, and Top Glove advanced 6.5 sen to 85 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 0.01 of a point to 10,794.69, the FBMT 100 Index perked 2.26 points to 10,465.34, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 0.29 of a point to 10,966.89, while the FBM 70 Index shed 27.68 points to 14,278.25 and the FBM ACE Index erased 39.70 points to 5,190.22.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 0.67 of a point to 172.79, the Plantation Index improved 44.73 points to 6,903.69, the Financial Services Index rose 18.76 points to 16,511.29, and the Energy Index was 2.31 points firmer at 867.34. ― Bernama