KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower with finance-related stocks emerging among the major contributor to the decline, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 7.19 points to 1,768.31, after moving between 1,767.79 and 1,773.69 throughout the morning session.

The index opened 3.4 points easier at 1,772.10 from yesterday’s close of 1,775.50.

Losers edged out gainers 485 to 235 with 342 counters unchanged, 778 untraded and 38 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.1 billion shares worth RM713.41 million.

The dealer said despite the uncertainty in global markets, the local bourse was also affected by local developments in the banking industry.

"Following the failed merger between RHB Bank Bhd and AMMB Holdings Bhd, we observe that the trading of other finance-related stocks were volatile and this could prolong in the medium-term,” the dealer said.

The merger (if it had materialised) would have led to cost synergies among others; personnel and branches, hence, positive for the industry as a whole.

"The expectations have been derailed and this is likely to bring negative impact to the industry,” said another dealer.

Maybank fell one sen to RM9.56, CIMB eased three sen to RM6.69, Hong Leong shed four sen to RM15.46, AMMB dropped six sen to RM4.46 while RHB rose two sen to RM5.09.

Among other heavyweights, Tenaga added two sen to RM14.30, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM20.56 and RM7.18, respectively, while Sime Darby eased five sen to RM9.18.

Of actives, Airasia X and Palette rose one sen each to 40 sen and nine sen, respectively, Mlabs Systems inched up half-a-sen to 24.5 sen and Compugates Holdings was flat at three sen.

The FBM Emas Index declined 44.03 points to 12,599.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 41.29 points to 12,798.71 and the FBMT 100 Index was lower by 41.53 points to 12,257.89.

The FBM 70 fell 19.91 points to 15,067.64 but the FBM Ace edged up 29.69 points to 6,675.17.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 31.55 points to 16,668.07 and the Industrial Index lost 12.28 points to 3,220/41 and the Plantation Index gave up 26.85 points to 7,849.02. ― Bernama