KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower on profit taking correction after strong gains in the past two weeks, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.01 points lower at 1,830.14 from yesterday's close of 1,832.15, after opening 5.11 points better at 1,837.26.

A dealer said after experiencing strong gains in key oil and gas, banking and utility heavyweights, buying momentum switched to lower liners and small caps on rotational plays in the oil and gas, construction and property sectors.

Overall market breadth was negative as losers outnumbered gainers 662 to 328, with 367 counters unchanged, 446 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 4.24 billion shares worth RM2.24 billion.

Among heavyweights, Maybank lost two sen to RM9.83 and CIMB eased four sen to RM6.78.

TNB chalked up 16 sen to RM15.86 and Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM8.16, while Public Bank was flat at RM20.82.

Of the actives, UMW O&G lost 1.5 sen to 44 sen and Sapura Energy eased one sen to 96.5 sen.

Sumatec and Priceworth bagged one sen each to seven sen and 32 sen respectively and Borneo Oil gained half-a-sen to 9.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 26.6 points lower at 13,288.91, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 23.5 points to 12,922.99, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 22.271 points to 13,784.93, the FBM 70 declined 61.699 points to 16,730.65 and the FBM Ace lost 16.06 points to 6,981.87.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 58.541 points to 17,181.93, the Industrial Index lost 10.13 points to 3,426.18, but the Plantation Index improved 8.44 points to 8,102.83. ― Bernama