KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips on Bursa Malaysia started out on another day of profit-taking as investors opted for caution following strong gains earlier in the year.

       At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.03 points to 1,561.17.

       The broader market was slightly positive with 234 gainers versus 205 decliners.

       Tech counters continued to recover from recent losses, tracking the Nasdaq's positive performance overnight.

       MPI rose 40 sen to RM47.40, Vitrox gained 36 sne to RM18.66, Pentamaster gained four sen to RM4.91.

       However, among financial counters, seen to be the beneficiary of a higher interest rate environment, the rally appeared to have halted as investors took profit ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting later this month.

       Public Bank dropped three sen to RM4.22, CIMB lost three sen to RM5.53, Hong Leong Bank slid two sen to RM19.68 and Maybank was unchanged at RM8.41.

       However, commodities plays were seen picking up led by Petronas Chemicals up five sne to RM9.05 and Press Metal rising five sen to RM6.14.

       Among top actives on Bursa, Kanger was flat at 3.5 sen, AHB up one sen ot 29 sne and SMTrack down two sen to 28 sen.