KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session easier today, bogged down by losses in selected heavyweights led by CIMB, Kluang Rubber and Petronas Dagangan.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.61 points lower at 1,887.08.

CIMB shares declined 15 sen to RM7.15 after the market reacted to the leadership transition after the announcement that Datuk Seri Nazir Razak would relinquish his position as group chief executive officer.

However, analysts were sanguine on the leadership transition, saying it was unlikely to have any impact on the group’s operations in the near term.

The benchmark index hovered between 1,886.58 and 1,891.43 throughout the session. Gainers led losers 404 to 325, with 307 counters unchanged, 578 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.039 billion shares worth RM807.5 million.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index declined 57.91 points to 17,197.98 but the Plantation Index increased 5.68 points to 9,252.71 and the Industrial Index added 5.510 points to 3,254.69.

The FBM Emas Index edged up 0.85 of a point to 13,101.97, the FBMT100 Index lost 4.08 points to 12,715.95, and the FBM Ace shed 2.63 points to 6,768.9 while the FBM 70 increased 21.46 points to 14,252.77.

Among actives, EA Holdings edged up one sen to 13 sen, CSL inched up 1.5 sen to 9.0 sen and MAS shed half-a-sen to 22.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed two sen at RM9.83. Public Bank also declined two sen to RM19.88, and TNB was flat at RM12.46. — Bernama