KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): Bursa Malaysia was flat at the noon break on Friday after a see-saw morning session that tracked a fluctuating regional performance.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.68 of a point to 1,443.53 with gains by Petronas Chemicals anchoring the marginal uptrend.

The barometer index opened 1.12 points better at 1,443.97 from Thursday's close of 1,442.85.

The market breadth was mixed with 359 decliners and 348 gainers, while 442 counters were unchanged, 1,188 untraded and 36 others suspended. 

Turnover amounted to 1.77 billion units worth RM864.15 million.

A trader said global investors are awaiting the outcome of the crucial US non-farm payroll later on Friday night after the country’s recent initial job claims data and softer job openings report to gauge the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) next policy move. Recent US data sets have strengthened hopes that the Fed would keep interest rates unchanged at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from Dec 12-13.

On the local bourse, heavyweight counters Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rebounded 10 sen to RM7.05, IHH Healthcare Bhd was four sen higher at RM5.86 and Nestle (M) Bhd bagged RM1.30 to RM117.80. CelcomDigi Bhd dropped three sen to RM4.10 and Public Bank Bhd lost one sen to RM4.25.

Among the most active counters, Widad Group Bhd grew half a sen to 47.5 sen, MQ Technology Bhd and Leform Bhd were both flat at 2.5 sen and 35.5 sen, respectively, while Asdion Bhd rose 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index recovered 11.89 points to 10,630.98, the FBMT 100 Index inched up by 10.86 points to 10,302 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 16.05 points to 10,744.11.

The FBM 70 Index added 40.93 points to 13,918.17 and the FBM ACE Index was 14.61 points higher at 5,079.34.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 2.93 points to 16,338.67, the Energy Index edged up 5.25 points to 793.37 and the Plantation Index gained 16.64 points to 6,971.05.

The Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.83 of a point to 169.32.