KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 ― The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) trimmed earlier losses at the end of the morning session today, on emerging buying support in selected heavyweight counters, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark index stood at 1,625.28, down 0.72 of a point, after opening 2.67 points weaker at 1,623.33.

A dealer said most Asian stocks were easier today as a weakening in crude oil prices dampened investor appetite for riskier assets.

There was also a mild market reaction to the official and private surveys on China's manufacturing activity, which were roughly in line with expectations, underlining doubts that the world's second-largest economy is picking up, he added.

The FBM Emas Index declined 13.20 points to 11,377.49, the FBMT100 Index was down 9.57 points at 11,075.21, and the FBM70 shed 27.67 points to 12,897.84.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 8.78 points to 11,913.86 and the FBM Ace fell 33.16 points to 5,456.63.

The Finance Index lost 28.37 points to 14,141.06, the Industrial Index slipped 3.0 points to 3,084.27, while the Plantation Index was 17.57 points lower at 7,429.35.

Losers outpaced gainers 438 to 207, while 331 counters were unchanged, 725 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 661.52 million shares worth RM742.94 million.              

Of the heavyweights, Maybank increased two sen to RM8.18, TNB was flat at RM13.98, while Public Bank dropped 16 sen to RM18.96 and IHH Healthcare gave up six sen at RM6.40.

Among actives, Bumi Armada rose 2.5 sen to 67.5 sen, CIMB earned one sen to RM4.40, Hibiscus Petroleum bagged 1.5 sen for 20 sen, while China Automobile eased half-a-sen to five sen. ― Bernama