KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today, weighed down by selected heavyweights, including finance-related stocks such as Maybank, AMMB and Public Bank.

Maybank and Public Bank dropped four sen each to RM8.13 and RM19.38 respectively, while AMMB slid six sen to RM4.33.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) contracted 2.90 points to 1,665.50 after fluctuating between 1,662.94 and 1,671.87 throughout the morning session.

It opened 3.48 point lower at 1,664.92. 

A dealer said investors stayed on the sidelines as they were still nervous over speculations that the overnight policy rate cut by 25 basis points by Bank

Negara Malaysia (BNM) last week could further squeeze the bank margins.

Dealers said BNM’s decision surprised the market and could signal a lower second quarter gross domestic product growth.

On the broader market, losers led gainers by 349 to 297 while 344 counters remained unchanged, 730 untraded and 45 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 857.45 million shares worth RM627.29 million.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Bhd said the KLCI near-term outlook is still tilted to an upside bias towards immediate resistances at 1,683-1,700 levels.

"This is driven by easing fears over Brexit (the UK leaving the European Union) fallout and hopes of more stimulus from central banks and governments, as well as expectations of more mega project rollouts by the (Malaysian) government in the near term,” it said in a note.

Among heavyweights, TNB and MISC recovered four sen each to RM14.34 and RM7.49 respectively, Axiata added three sen to RM5.73, IHH Healthcare declined eight sen to RM6.57, Petronas Chemicals dropped 18 sen to RM6.51 and Petronas Gas rose 16 sen to RM22.36.

Of the top losers, MAHB slipped 34 sen to RM6.10, followed by IQ Group (-12 sen to RM1.82), Heineken (-10 sen to RM16.96) and BAT (-8 sen to RM54.08).

The FBM Emas Index decreased 21.16 points to 11,636.71, the FBMT 100 Index shrank 23.59 points for 11,336.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 9.65 points to 12,218.46.

The FBM 70 went down 41.52 points to 13,155.99 and the FBM Ace was 3.73 points lower at 5,479.07.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index slipped 25.70 points to 14,226.42 while the Plantation Index was higher at 7,575.27 and the Industrial Index soared 8.19 points to 3,148.74.  — Bernama