KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 ― Bursa Malaysia was lower when closing the morning session today, no thanks to the cautious underlying market environment, a dealer said.

Among others, he said investors were waiting for the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is expected to indicate movements on the US interest rate.

"The two-day FOMC meeting is scheduled on July 30-31 and until then the market will likely be cautious,” he said, adding that the Fed is ready to lower the rate by 25 basis points later this month.

 At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 5.56 points to 1652.63 after having closed at 1,658.19 last Friday.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.09 point higher at 1,658.28, moved between 1,651.40 and 1,658.28 throughout the morning session.

Market breadth remained negative with losers outpacing gainers 437 to 246, while 373 counters were unchanged, 833 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.59 billion shares worth RM679.46 million.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga fell two sen each to RM8.85 and RM13.62 respectively, PetChem lost eight sen to RM7.73 while Public Bank was flat at RM22.88.

The most active, LEAP Market debutant Baba Eco, rose three sen to 16 sen, Green Packet added half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, Sapura Energy slipped half-a-sen to 30.5 sen and KNM inched down one sen to 36 sen.

The FBM Emas Index declined 35.30 points to 11,475.92, the FBMT 100 Index lost 35.51 points to 11,580.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 42.19 points weaker at 12,122.67.

The FBM Ace meanwhile rose 37.65 points to 4,712.62 but the FBM 70 dropped 31.62 points to 14,881.41.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 54.79 points lower at 16,541.09, the Plantation Index erased 50.55 points to 6,763.45 and the Industrial Products & Services Index fell 0.65 point to 156.16. ― Bernama