KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower across the board on profit-taking, but mild buying especially in healthcare, finance and telecommunication stocks helped to provide some support to the key index from further slide.

Among the index-linked heavyweights, seven counters recorded gains including Hartalega, Top Glove, Hong Leong Bank and Digi, while two counters were flat and the rest posted losses.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.06 points to 1,513.34 from yesterday’s close of 1,515.40.

The barometer index opened 10.78 points lower at 1,504.62 and moved between 1,498.72 and 1,519.28 throughout the morning session.

On the overall market, losers doubled gainers by 650 to 317, while 408 counters were unchanged, 651 untraded and 37 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 4.32 billion shares worth RM2.36 billion.

An analyst said that the persistent weakness in selected index heavyweights had led to the fall in the FBM KLCI today, however, the downtrend in the local bourse mirrored the performance of its regional peers following the sharp decline in Wall Street overnight.

The Nasdaq Composite tumbled nearly 4.96 per cent to 11,458.10, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 2.78 per cent to 28,292.73 and the S&P fell 3.51 per cent to 3,455.06.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased 1.75 per cent to 24,570.22, Japan Nikkei 225 slipped 1.15 per cent to 23,194.78 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.53 per cent to 2,493.38.

"Wall Street experienced the worst day for stocks since June this year as investors dramatically sold their shares. However there was no clear reason for this sell-off.

"But technically, it could also be due to the US-China trade war which turned sour...that’s why investors opted to move out of their investments,” he said.

It was reported that products exported from China to the US, including disposable face masks, respirators and Bluetooth tracking devices, have been granted only a short-term exemption without any explanation.

Rakuten Trade in its note today reckoned the sell-off in US markets was a healthy correction after many record-breaking highs.

"On the local front, we expect sentiment to be cautious, nonetheless, we advocate buy on weakness with 1,500 as the support level for the KLCI,” it said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM7.21, Tenaga was four sen lower at RM11, Public Bank dipped 14 sen to RM15.96 and Sime Darby Plantation was five sen lower at RM5.03.

Among the actives, XOX rose 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen while both AEM and K-One gained four sen to 21 sen and 45 sen respectively.

As for the top losers, Tradeplus Nyse declined 98 sen to RM9.18, Supermax shed 51 sen to RM9.63 and Nestle was 40 sen lower at RM139.40.

As for the top gainers, Allianz-PA and Hartalega put on 62 sen each to RM14.60 and RM14.48 and Country View was 22 sen higher at RM1.25.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 48.76 points to 10,963.48, the FBMT 100 Index was 46.27 points weaker at 10,762.07 and the FBM 70 slid 185.18 points to 14,423.37.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 51.08 points to 13,008.41 and the FBM ACE fell 4.95 points to 10,845.83.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 47.75 points to 12,599.91, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.80 of-a-point to 136.70 and the Plantation Index slipped 49.52 points to 7,078.34. — Bernama