KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 ― Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower in line with the regional peers, dampened by weak sentiment.

At mid-day, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.73 points to 1,768.63, after fluctuating between 1,766.53 and 1,770.32 throughout the morning session.

The key index opened 2.27 points weaker at 1,770.32.

IHH Healthcare dragged down the composite index by 1.124 points. The stock finished eight sen lower at RM5.85 with 1.45 million shares changing hands.

Losers thumped gainers 448 to 230, with 374 counters unchanged, 754 untraded and 53 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 711.19 million shares worth RM767.14 million.

Ajinomoto was the biggest loser, declining 34 sen to RM24.20, followed by BAT and Teck Guan Perdana, which fell 32 sen to RM43.18 and 22 sen to RM1.84, respectively.

Elsewhere, regional markets were also on a downtrend with Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipping 1.18 per cent to 19,981.66, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.81 per cent for 25,754.84, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 0.88 per cent to 3,230.05.

A dealer said despite the recovery in oil prices, sentiment in the region was weighed by the poor performance overnight on Wall Street and European markets, amid the weakening US dollar. 

Among heavyweights on the local bourse, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM9.64 and RM7.13 respectively, while Tenaga, Public Bank, Sime Darby and CIMB were all flat at RM14.14, RM20.30, RM9.57 and RM6.64, respectively. 

Of the actives, Hiap Teck gained 1.5 sen to 38 sen, Anzo inched down half-a-sen to 13.5 sen while Asia Bioenergy was flat at 16 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 15.20 points to 12,616.72, FBMT100 Index declined 14.82 points to 12,253.06, FBM Ace lost 19.8 points to 6,510.55, FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 14.42 points to 12,835.57 and FBM 70 slipped 3.0 points to 15,035.23.

The Finance Index perked 0.62 of-a-point to 16,800.87 and the Industrial Index added 0.42 of-a-point to 3,270.65, but the Plantation Index shed 17.85 points to 7,915.37. ― Bernama