KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower as sentiment turned bearish amid a sideways trading session.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.89 of-a-point lower at 1,772.69 against yesterday’s close of 1,773.58.
The index opened 1.87 points higher at 1,775.45.
Market breath was negative, as losers led gainers 439 to 278 with 372 counters unchanged, 750 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.07 billion shares worth RM1.17 billion.
A dealer said the market is still in a dour mood, with few noteworthy leads, and fresh buying still mostly on the tepid side.
“We expect the weak market trend to persist amid the continuing profit taking activities,” he added.
The FBM Emas Index was 6.44 points lower at 12,637.68, the FBMT 100 Index declined 5.199 points to 12,289.48, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 12,845.05, the FBM Ace declined 39.34 points to 6,638.28 and the FBM 70 fell 2.601 points to 15,111.22.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 4.359 points to 16,746.74, while the Plantation Index retreated 7.6 points to 7,917.74 and the Industrial Index edged down 5.76 points to 3,226.6.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost one sen to RM9.48, but TNB was flat at RM14.50.
Public Bank bagged two sen to RM20.62, Sime Darby eased three sen to RM9.16 and Petronas Chemicals improved one sen to RM7.30.
Among actives, Hibiscus lost 3.5 sen to 61.5 sen, while KNM was flat at 28.5 sen.
UMW O&G and Sino Hua-an earned half-a-sen each to 35.5 sen and 24 sen respectively and Trive gained 2.5 sen to 15.5 sen.