KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): Bursa Malaysia ended Monday's morning trading session lower as traders sold heavyweight counters, particularly in financial services and industrial products and services.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd fell seven sen to RM7.28 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd lost five sen to RM5.54. Both counters dragged the composite index down by a combined 1.78 points.

At the lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.3 points or 0.5% to 1,442.93 from Monday’s close of 1,450.23. The index opened 0.4 of a point easier at 1,449.83 and moved between 1,441.17 and 1,450.32 throughout the morning trading session.

The market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 463 to 335 while 446 counters were unchanged, 1,155 untraded and 49 others suspended. Turnover stood at 1.83 billion units worth RM1.03 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street continued with its downtrend last Friday as the US Federal Reserve signalled that the high-interest rate environment may be prolonged indefinitely, crushing any hopes that the Fed will lower interest rates toward year end.

He expects the index to hover between the 1,445 and 1,455 range for Monday.

“Meanwhile, the noise within the construction sector is getting louder and we believe that any impending announcements of projects will catapult the sector to higher levels,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd was flat at RM8.88, Public Bank Bhd lost two sen to RM4.18 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd slid six sen to RM10.10.

Of the actives, Ekovest Bhd was half-a-sen higher at 59.5 sen and Talam Transform Bhd rose half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, while Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd added 1.5 sen to 49.5 sen. Land & General Bhd gained one sen to 14.5 sen and UEM Sunrise Bhd fell 1.5 sen to 89.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 40.79 points to 10,706.11, the FBMT 100 Index was down 42.04 points to 10,366.15, the FBM 70 Index shed 12.92 points to 14,304.16, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slumped 47.49 points to 10,960.34, while the FBM ACE Index improved 4.96 points to 5,214.02.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 35.04 points to 16,185.59, the Industrial Products Services Index eased 0.86 of-a-point to 173.97, and the Plantation Index narrowed 21.71 points to 6,905.51.

The Energy Index shed 8.11 points to 898.81.