KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia recovered some losses by midday with the FBM KLCI trading down by a marginal 0.04%.
At 12.30pm, the key FBM KLCI fell 0.64 of-a-point or 0.04% to 1,600.58 with 13 of the component stocks ending higher.
Winners and losers were closely balanced, with 500 gainers against 509 losers and 461 that were flat. Volume stood at 2.6 billion units valued at RM1.6bil.
Losers were led by Dutch Lady
, which tumbled 90 sen to RM32.48, Heineken slid 30 sen to RM23.60, PPB slipped 22 sen to RM15.58 and Ajinomoto declined 20 sen to RM19.08.
On the other hand, Sungei Bagan Rubber jumped 64 sen to RM5.61. Kluang Rubber Co climbed 49 sen to RM5.30, Kuchai added 32 sen to RM2.15, Nestle rose 30 sen to RM128.80 and Kobay gained 22 sen to RM2.15.
TA Securities said the local bourse should extend profit-taking consolidation into the weekend, with uncertainty over the US interest rate direction and inflation outlook to nudge investors to the sidelines.
“Immediate resistance for the index remains at 1,620, with stronger upside hurdles seen at 1,640 and then 1,660.
“Key supports will be at 1,567, 1,555 and 1,529, the respective rising 30-day, 50-day and 100-day moving averages,” it added.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Asian stocks rose on Friday, on course for a third week of gains as fresh signs of an easing U.S. labour market stoked optimism around interest rate cuts this year ahead of next week's crucial inflation data.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.66%.
Japan's Nikkei was 0.31% higher at 38,191.04, China's blue-chip CSI300 was down 0.28% to 3,654.20 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.74% to 18,859.60.
