KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower on weaker sentiment amid negative external developments, dealers said.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 7.52 points to 1,730.49 from 1,738.01 yesterday.

The index opened 4.3 points lower at 1,733.71 and moved between 1,718.13 and 1,733.71 throughout the session.

A dealer said the overnight corrections in the US and European markets dampened by the geopolitical risk in Saudi Arabia, China slowdown and Italy’s budget worries were the major negative factors that dragged the local market lower ahead of the weekend.

"Uncertainty over relations between the US and Saudi Arabia provided a further reason for risk aversion,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank, TNB and Petronas Chemicals lost four sen each to RM24.98, RM14.54 and RM9.39 respectively, and CIMB eased three sen to RM6.

Maybank was flat at RM9.60.

For actives, MyEG dwindled 37 sen to RM1.13, Datasonic shed 25.5 sen to 44 sen, and Sapura Energy and K1 eased half-a-sen each to 34 sen and 26.5 sen respectively.

Iris gained 3.5 sen to 18 sen.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 73.12 points to 11,958.12, the FBMT 100 Index eased 65.66 points to 11,789.33 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 104.32 points to 11,935.77.

The FBM Ace Index went down 22.41 points to 5,074.56 and the FBM 70 fell 132.72 points to 13,764.05.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index declined 17.28 points to 7,369.61, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.98 point to 172.18 and the Financial Services Index decreased 52.711 points to 17,530.26.

On Bursa Malaysia’s broader market, losers outpaced gainers 554 to 156, with 291 counters unchanged, 898 untraded and 41 others suspended.

Volume stood at 1.38 billion units valued at RM966.09 million. — Bernama