KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweight stocks.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.67 points to 1,532.96 from yesterday's close of 1,537.63.

The index opened 5.52 points higher at 1,543.15, and fluctuated between 1,531.49 and 1,543.87 during the session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 594 to 256, while 425 counters were unchanged, 1,000 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.09 billion units worth RM1.24 billion.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia had opened higher after taking its cue from the stronger Wall Street performance overnight, but turned lower at mid-morning after succumbing to selling in heavyweight stocks.

However, he noted that buying interest in healthcare and financial services stocks continued to support the barometer index, adding that the local bourse’s performance was in line with regional peers which was mostly lower in the morning session today.

"Investors are waiting for comments from the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later today for market direction.

"The US central bank is expected to disclose plans to ease the pandemic stimulus measures and plans to boost the economy,” he said.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index trimmed 0.40 per cent to 3,219.29, South Korea’s Kospi shaved 1.36 per cent to 2,972.63 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.97 per cent to 24,857.01.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added three sen each to RM8.02 and RM8.31, respectively, IHH Healthcare rose eight sen to RM6.54, Tenaga improved one sen to RM9.61, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.04.

Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange reduced four sen to 78.5 sen, AirAsia X shed 1.5 sen to four sen, NWP Holdings and TA Win eased half-a-sen each to 23.5 sen and 15 sen, respectively, while Sedania perked 8.5 sen to 71.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 37.81 points to 11,360.68, the FBMT 100 Index declined 28.23 points to 10,988.79, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 57.91 points to 12,399.68, the FBM ACE went down 58.25 points to 7,064.22, and the FBM 70 reduced 18.14 points to 15,067.16.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.56 of-a-point to 202.76, the Plantation Index gave up 49.63 points to 6,793.29, while the Financial Services added 7.43 points to 15,187.24. ― Bernama