KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower on a lack of catalysts on Monday (Feb 20).

At lunch break, the benchmark FBM KLCI had slipped 5.32 points to 1,471.58 from last Friday’s closing at 1,476.90.

The key index opened 2.65 points weaker at 1,474.25, and moved between 1,471.07 and 1,477.48 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 463 to 271, while 411 counters were unchanged, 1,083 untraded and 29 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.81 billion units worth RM1.04 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said trading on the local bourse would be subdued, ahead of corporate earnings results announcements. It expects the index to hover in the 1,470-1,480 range on Monday.

"In view of the recovery in crude palm oil prices, we believe plantation stocks should see some buying support today (Monday),” the brokerage said in a research note.

On the local bourse, Public Bank Bhd gained one sen to RM4.16 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added one sen to RM5.41, IHH Healthcare Bhd climbed nine sen to RM6.07, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) declined three sen to RM8.72, and Petronas Chemical Group Bhd trimmed six sen to RM8.22.

As for the actives, MMAG Holdings Bhd ticked up half a sen to two sen, MyEG Services Bhd strengthened 2.5 sen to 68.5 sen, and Betamek Bhd widened 3.5 sen to 65 sen. Meanwhile, Ho Wah Genting Bhd at 14.5 sen and Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd at 18.5 sen were both flat.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index fell 25.80 points to 10,384.44, the FBM Emas Index was 26.12 points easier at 10,716.04, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 40.31 points to 11,062.17, the FBM 70 grew 16.64 points to 13,542.07, and the FBM ACE shrank 34.13 points to 5,625.53.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.90 points to 188.62, the Financial Services Index advanced 15.60 points to 16,051.82, and the Plantation Index dipped 33.46 points to 6,804.22.