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Bursa Malaysia closes midday mixed, with the key index clawing back into positive territory

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia has maintained its positive tone at midday, driven by mild bargain-hunting, led by the utilities and consumer products and services counters. 

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.55 points to 1,596.24 from Thursday's close of 1,592.69.

The benchmark index opened 0.72 points higher at 1,593.41, fluctuating between 1,590.00 and 1,596.86 during the morning trading session.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 558 to 485, with 462 counters unchanged.Turnover stood at 3.21 billion units worth RM1.88 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Research said the sentiment across the board is negative as sector indices are undergoing consolidation phase.

It added that profit taking activities still persist, but the FTSE rebalancing activities could be the reason for the softer sentiment in the market.

However, the firm believes the traders will be monitoring for good entries once it is ripe for a rebound in the technology sector which will be driven by catalysts coming from the rising demand for data centre, artificial intelligence (Al) and cloud services.

"We also think electronic manufacturing services (EMS) players are likely on traders' radar due to stronger earnings from VS Industry Bhd," it said.

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