Bursa Malaysia was mixed in mid-session on Thursday with the main indices ending the morning session in positive territory in line with regional markets.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.9 points (0.25%) to 1,544.32 from Wednesday's close of 1,540.42. The benchmark index opened 0.58 points lower at 1,539.84.
However, market sentiment was still negative with losers outnumbering gainers by 510 to 376. Meanwhile, 446 counters were unchanged, 1,032 were not traded and 21 others were suspended.
The total turnover is 2.3 billion units worth RM1.19 billion.
According to Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, the KLCI recovered from the decline of the last four days when the activity of the presence of foreign investors began to be detected.
Despite better sentiment in the local market, price gains could be limited following a sell-off in the United States overnight.
The expectation is that investors will give their focus back to defensive related sectors such as consumer, utilities and real estate investment trusts.
Meanwhile, heavyweights such as Maybank Bhd gained six sen to RM9.66, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained seven sen to RM6.60 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd gained 12 sen to RM11.64. Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose two sen to RM6.85 and Public Bank Bhd fell one sen to RM4.14.
As for active shares, Borneo Oil Bhd and Ignenieur Gudang Bhd dropped half a sen to half a sen and 14 sen respectively and Eversendai Corp Bhd rose 1.5 sen to 39 sen. Fitters Diversified Bhd and Avilion Bhd were unchanged at five sen and 4.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 22.25 points to 11,599.69, the FBM 70 Index rose 7.76 points to 16,121.88 and the FBMT 100 Index jumped 22.47 points to 11,241.86. The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 14.5 points better at 11,771.81 and the FBM ACE Index was down 18.31 points to 4,907.06.
