KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today, dragged by losses in heavyweights.

At midday, the FBM KLCI was quoted at 1,872.36 points, down 2.76 points after hovering between 1,871.68 points and 1,878.54 points in the morning session.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and TNB erased 2.0 sen each to RM9.93, RM19.86 and RM12.16, respectively.

Among actives, Sumatec rose 1.5 sen to 28 sen, AirAsia X inched up half-a-sen to 77.5 sen while MAS remained pegged at 17 sen.

Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers by 397 to 234, while 342 counters were unchanged, 653 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 831.88 million shares worth RM764.45 million.

Kenanga Research said the benchmark index is expected to consolidate further to digest the short-term selling pressure.

“Immediate downside support zone remained at 1,858 to 1,865,” it said in a note.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index slipped 51.57 points to 17,069.73 points, the Industrial Index lost 0.26 point to 3,196.91 points and the Plantation Index fell 41.85 points to 9,272.54 points.

The FBM Emas Index shed 22.72 points to 12,935.33 points, the FBMT100 Index declined 22.22 points to 12,585.8 points, the FBM Ace lost 43.12 points to 6,581.99 points and the FBM 70 gave up 39.05 points to 14,024.44 points. — Bernama