KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) on Bursa Malaysia was traded easier this morning, dampened by low buying interest due to week regional sentiment, dealers said.

At 9.56am, the FBM KLCI stood at 1,865.7 points, down 1.02 points, after opening 0.96 of a point lower at 1,865.76 points.

A dealer said most of regional bourses tumbled following Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly said that the country needs to adapt to a “new normal” on growth, which sparked renewed concerns over the Asia's largest economy development.

Rising geopolitical tensions in Ukraine also weighed the market down, the dealer said, adding the local players would closely monitor Malaysia's March factory production to be released later.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index increased 1.84 points to 9,153.86 points, the Finance Index rose 19.8 points to 17,043.56 points but the Industrial Index eased 8.1 points to 3,175.19 points.

The FBM Emas Index shed 2.96 points to 12,900.77, the FBMT100 Index trimmed 5.66 points to 12,546.52, the FBM 70 slipped 1.68 points to 14,002.16 points but the FBM Ace rose 33.29 points to 6,622..78 points.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 226 to 196, while 242 counters were unchanged, 949 untraded and 19 others were suspended.       

Turnover stood at 402.32 million shares worth RM172.91 million.

Heavyweights, both Maybank and CIMB added one sen each to RM9.85 and RM7.35 respectively, while Public Bank, TNB, and Axiata were all flat at RM20.02, RM12.00 and RM6.88 respectively.

Among actives, Luster Industries was one sen better at 11.5 sen while 1Utopia was flat at 6.5 sen. — Bernama