KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today on growing concerns over China’s disappointing stock market performance and factory data letdown which translated into a two-year low, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 18.29 points to 1,725.9, after opening lower at 1,730.09.

Asian shares also fell against the backdrop of China’s stock market struggle and sluggish property segment which has seen a dampening of demand from both at home and overseas.

“Adding to the hurt, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices slid below US$50 (RM193.30) per barrel.

“The ringgit also fell further to 3.8665/8695 at the opening against the greenback and this cut into enthusiasm towards the local bourse,” a dealer told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM9.19, Public Bank garnered six sen to RM19.12, while TNB slid 14 sen to RM12.10, Axiata eased 37 sen to RM6.48 and Sime Darby fell one sen to RM8.77.

Losers led gainers 422 to 198, with 315 counters unchanged, 864 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 674.75 million shares valued at RM558.85 million.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 100.28 points to 11,888.6,as the FBMT100 Index fell 100.64 points to 11,572.26 and the FBM Emas Shariah lost 158.11 points to 12,381.24.The FBM 70 declined 29.62 points to 12,794.45.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index contracted 16.67 points to 15,447.33, the Plantation Index depreciated 52.8 points to 7,353.63 and the Industrial Index trimmed 1.06 points to 3,257.15.

Among the actives, The Media Shoppe was flat at 6.5 sen and APFT was up half-a-sen, to 23 sen.

Meanwhile, Pesona Metro was down 1.5 sen to 55 sen, Konsortium Transnasional declined two sen to 28.5 sen and Yong Tai fell 4.5 sen to 73.5 sen. — Bernama