KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session broadly lower today on the back of weaker sentiment on regional equity markets.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 32.4 points to 1,745.96.

The key index moved between 1,742.48 and 1,774.47 throughout the morning session.           

The FBM KLCI was led by losses in finance-related counters. CIMB and Maybank, which accounted for 11.053 points to the index, lost 37 sen to RM7.53 and 38 sen to RM10.06, respectively.    

JF Apex Securities Head of Research Lee Chung Cheng said foreign investors redeemed their holdings on the Asian market on uncertainty over the timing of when the US Federal Reserve would its stimulus package.

“Foreign investors are exiting the Asian market due to deteriorating economic conditions,” he told Bernama.

Thailand has slipped into mild recession after posting a lower second quarter figure due to weak exports and domestic demand, while Indonesia’s current account deficit reportedly widened to 4.4 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product.            

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 1.29 per cent lower at 13,581.16, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased 0.24 per cent to 22,463.70, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.99 of a point to 3,142.01.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index dropped 478.24 points to 16,437.62, the Industrial Index fell 55.34 points to 2,949.27, and the Plantation Index dipped 87.55 points to 8,201.81.

The FBM Emas Index lost 229.38 points to 12,180.79, the FBMT100 was 219.27 points lower at 11,913.64, the FBM ACE Index declined 190.86 points to 5,330.32 and the FBM 70 Index declined 249.97 points to 13,999.36.   

Losers thumped gainers 862 to 51, with 163 counters unchanged, 509 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.55 million shares worth RM1.70 billion.                 

Among actives, Luster Industries was flat at 10 sen, MAS eased 2.5 sen to 34 sen, Daya Materials inched down 1.5 sen to 34 sen and The Media Shoppe shed one sen to 10 sen.           

For heavyweights, Axiata was flat at RM6.90, UEM Sunrise fell 10 sen to RM2.59, SapuraKencana Petroleum slipped 10 sen to RM3.65, and AMMB Holdings lost 20 sen to RM7.65. – Bernama