KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in negative territory as investors turned cautious amidst muted trading in the regional markets, while the lack of positive catalysts in the local market dampened appetites.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 11.27 points to 1,605.46  after closing at an intraday low of 1,616.73 yesterday.

The index opened 0.05 of-a-point better at 1,616.78, but subsequently declined, hitting a low of 1,604.42 at one point.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 723 to 300, while 412 counters were unchanged, 775 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.88 billion shares worth RM2.10 billion.

Pubic Investment Bank Bhd said due to the unsettled trading in the global markets, risky assets like oil rose alongside safe havens such as the United States (US) Treasuries, while Turkish assets took a beating after the surprise weekend decision to replace the country’s hawkish central bank governor.

Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02 per cent to 29,167.95, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.18 per cent to 28,545.71, Singapore's Straits Times gained 0.25 per cent to 3,135.87 and Korea's Kospi reduced 0.49 per cent to 3,020.60.

Heavyweights Maybank was four sen easier at RM8.29, PBBank eased one sen to RM4.21 and PChem reduced 11 sen to RM8.09, while Tenaga added two sen to RM10.78.

Meanwhile, both CIMB and Topglove were one sen easier at RM4.49 and RM5.13, respectively, and IHH was flat at RM5.31.

As for the active counters, most active BJCorp advanced 5.5 sen to 28 sen, Widad improved eight sen to 51.5 sen and its warrant rose five sen to 30 sen, Macpie gained 2.5 sen to 53.5 sen while its warrant lost one sen to 8.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 59.84 points to 11,801.10, the FBMT 100 eased 61.89 points to 11,477.33, and the FBM Emas Shariah fell 63.28 points to 13,108.14, the FBM 70 reduced 12.05 points to 15,612.97 and the FBM ACE shed 76.99 points to 10,575.67.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 62.13 points to 15,364.30, the Plantation Index inched down 1.19 points to 7,149.21 and the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.72 of-a-point to 192.36. ― Bernama