KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session in the red with selling pressure seen across the board, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.50 points to 1,487.36 from 1,494.86 at yesterday’s close.

The index, which opened 1.97 points easier at 1,492.89, moved between 1,485.83 and 1,492.89 throughout the session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 497 to 250, while 361 counters were unchanged, 1,196 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.47 billion units valued at RM784.13 million.

A dealer said the local bourse opened lower on profit taking after yesterday’s rebound and stayed in negative territory throughout the morning session.

The performance was in line with regional peers, as Asian markets took the cue from the weaker overnight performance on Wall Street amid renewed concerns over the wide spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

"Markets are in risk-off mode again as the United Kingdom reported the first Omicron death.

"Investors are also cautious ahead of the outcomes of this week's meetings of the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan regarding interest rates and monetary policy,” he added.

Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.95 per cent to 28,369.71, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index decreased 1.26 per cent to 23,653.16, and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.76 per cent to 2,978.72, but Singapore’s Straits Times Index firmed 0.12 per cent to 3,123.68.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell seven sen to RM8.11, IHH Healthcare eased four sen to  RM6.52, and CIMB shed six sen to and RM5.18.

Public Bank added two sen to RM4.02 and Petronas Chemicals rose five sen to RM8.60.

Of the actives, AT Systematization, Permaju Industries, Macpie and BCM Alliance eased half-a-sen each to four sen, 4.5 sen, 3.5 sen and two sen, respectively, while KPower increased 10.5 sen to 51.5 sen and its warrants bagged six sen to 15 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 50.13 points lower at 10,839.16, the FBMT 100 Index fell 48.14 points to 10,536.50, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 57.64 points to 11,667.68.

The FBM 70 declined 44.07 points to 13,955.85 and the FBM ACE trimmed 16.49 points to 6,214.59.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.71 of-a-point to 193.99, the Financial Services Index dropped 74.86 points to 15,146.67, and the Plantation Index contracted 69.83 points to 6,459.26. ― Bernama