KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia's benchmark index wobbled in morning trade as profit-taking pressure erased more than 10 points from the index.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 10.82 points to 1,538.23 as investors continued to take profit off most counters despite the overnight rally in Wall Street raising optimism over economic recovery.

       Maxis was seen dropping 12 sen to RM4.48, CIMB fell seven sen to RM5.42 and Petronas Gas shed 38 sen to RM16.84.

       Plantation counters were also down led by IOI sliding nine sen to RM3.80 and Sime Darby Plantation shedding six sen to RM3.78.

       Most banks were also lower although Hong Leong Bank bucked the trend by rising 12 sen to RM18.88.

       However, technology counters on the broader market were seen benefiting from the rally on the US Nasdaq. KESM rose 48 sen to RM12.88 while Vitrox gained 14 sen to RM19.82.

       Topping the most actively traded list, Bintai Kinden dropped 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen, SMTrack rose two sen to 25.5 sen and KGroup was unchanged at 1.5 sen.

       In key Asian markets, equities were buoyed in early trading by optimism that the Omicron variant of Covid will not derail the economic recovery.

       However, the sentiment receded as the day progressed on fears that the ongoing crackdown by Chinese regulators will continue to weigh on the property and technology sectors.

       Japan's Nikkei rose 1.7%, South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.3% and China's composite index slipped 0.35%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3%.

       Australia's ASX200 meanwhile jumped 1.8% on its first day of 2021 trading on the back of Wall Street's strong performance.