Bursa Malaysia mixed in early session

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was mixed in the early session today, as gains in key heavyweights were outweighed by losses in small-cap stocks.
At 9.11 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.61 of-a-point higher at 1,772.91 from Friday's close of 1,772.3.
At 9 am, the index opened 1.95 points better at 1,774.25.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 179 to 177 while 211 counters remained unchanged with 1,215 untraded and 52 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 191.42 million shares worth RM57.23 million.
In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said share prices on Bursa Malaysia could see further selling pressure after the FBM KLCI rejected the 1,780 points level several times over the past two weeks.
"Also, with the final week of the financial reporting season, we opine that most of the trading activities are likely to slow down as investors may need to reassess the financial health of the companies in order to reaffirm their trading strategy," the research firm said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.40, TNB added 10 sen to RM13.90 and Public Bank rose four sen to RM20.12.
Of actives, China Automobile lost one sen to 1.5 sen, Compugates was unchanged at 3.5 sen and PUC Founder declined 1.5 sen to 14 sen,
The FBM Emas Index was 0.23 of-a-point lower at 12,661.35, FBMT 100 Index gained 0.10 of-a-point to 12,294.47 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 8.09 points to 12,916.37.
The FBM 70 was down 31.27 points to 15,186.99 and the FBM Ace was 20.65 points lower at 6,366.23.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index eased 11.63 points to 8,052.83, Finance Index declined 3.36 points to 16,496.49 but the Industrial Index increased 7.86 points to 3,283.79.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM168.45 per gramme, up 72 sen from RM167.73 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama