KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session easier today, dragged down by losses in selected blue chips, led by the Genting group.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.25 points easier at 1,767.67 from Wednesday’s close of 1,768.92, after opening 0.73 of-a-point lower at 1,768.19.

The key index moved between 1,770.90 and 1,766.38 throughout the session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 421 to 344, with 396 counters unchanged, 616 counters untraded and 53 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.12 billion shares worth RM1.18 billion.

The composite index was dragged down by Genting Malaysia Bhd and Genting Bhd, which lost 14 sen each to RM5.88 and RM9.82, respectively, while British American Tobacco shed 92 sen to RM45.08.

Losses in the three counters registered a combined total negative contribution of 2.75 points.

Meanwhile, trading and services plus finance related stocks kept the key index supported, with IHH Healthcare advancing 11 sen to RM6.25, TNB rising four sen to RM13.88, CIMB bagging two sen to RM5.77 while the top-weighted Maybank improved one sen to RM9.49.

A dealer said local and regional markets took cue from the weak overnight performance of Wall Street.

"After four consecutive sessions of rallies in index-linked counters, mild profit-taking was observed, with buying interest now distributed on rotational plays to the second and low liner stocks, here” he added.

The FBM Emas Index fell 3.33 points to 12,607.04, the FBMT100 Index dipped 2.11 points to 12,238.52 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 11.45 points to 12,961.05.

The FBM 70 rose 21.92 points to 14,987.76, while the FBM Ace shed 3.28 points to 6,184.52.

The Finance Index advanced by 14.04 points to 16,214.41, the Plantation Index climbed 7.09 points to 8,080.67, while the Industrial Index eased 0.49 of-a-point to 3,227.38.

Actively traded stocks included Key Alliance, DNEX and Iris which eased half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen, 59.5 sen and 20.5 sen respectively, while Luster and AirAsia X added half-a-sen each to 14 sen and 44.5 sen respectively. — Bernama