KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 ― Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session easier today, dragged down by losses in selected bluechips.     

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI(FBM KLCI) was 5.82 points easier at 1,644.89 from Tuesday's close of 1,650.71, after opening 4.89 points higher at 1,655.60.

The key index moved between 1,642.95 and 1,656.03 throughout the session.     

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 353 to 195, with 288 counters unchanged, 885 counters untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 672.10 million shares worth RM593.80 million.     

A dealer said the local market took que from the weak overnight performance of Wall Street.

"Trading activity in the morning session was limited as expected, with many investors still away on an extended Hari Raya holiday break,” he added.

Losers in the composite index component stocks were led by Petronas Gas which dropped 44 sen to RM22.20, while Axiata declined eight sen to RM5.46 and Genting Malaysia dipped seven sen to RM4.32.

Meanwhile, top weighted Maybank eased four sen to RM8.16, Tenaga gained four sen to RM14.08, while Public Bank slipped four sen to RM19.34.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 45.30 points to 11,468.55, the FBMT100 Index eased 45.49 points to 11,177.43, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 47.45 points to 12,029.91.

The FBM Ace was in positive territory with a 29.38 points gain to 5,152.03, while the FBM 70 slipped 74.28 points to 12,902.64.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was down by 26.39 points to 3,104.92, the Plantation Index trimmed 8.87 points to 7,564.65, and the Finance Index fell 19.34 points to 14,239.32.

Actively traded stocks included Borneo Oil and its warrant (C), which went up 1.5 sen each to 18.5 sen and 10.5 sen respectively, Vivocom ticked up one sen to 24 sen, Sanichi declined one sen to 16 sen, while TH Heavy lost 2.5 sen to 7 sen. ― Bernama