KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower, with the benchmark index declining by 0.60 per cent, as sentiment remained tepid following a downtrend in the global market, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 8.54 points to 1,417.54 from yesterday's close of 1,426.08.

The benchmark index opened 4.65 points lower at 1,421.43 ― the highest level so far for the day ― and dropped as low as 1,410.33 during the session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 504 to 222, while 336 counters were unchanged, 1,188 untraded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.03 billion units worth RM602.97 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities saw volatile trade as lingering fears over global growth and Covid-19 added to the defensive mood.

"Traders are also positioning for the United States earnings season that kicks off on Thursday, with financials and banks the early focus,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB fell three sen to RM8.61 and RM5.09 respectively, Public Bank stayed flat at RM4.40, Petronas Chemicals shrank 28 sen to RM8.00, and IHH Healthcare rose three sen to RM6.42.

As for the actives, newly-listed Infoline Tec was flat at 32 sen, Widad added half-a-sen to 37 sen, Metronic decreased one sen to seven sen, and Hibiscus Petroleum lost 2.5 sen to 83 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 58.63 points to 10,057.45, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 75.60 points to 10,081.31, the FBM 70 was 57.68 points lower at 12,046.96, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 56.29 points to 9,820.87, and the FBM ACE inched up 2.49 points to 4,581.0.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 41.97 points to 16,046.25, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.89 points lower at 167.32, and the Plantation Index ticked up 0.44 of-a-point to 6,720.37. ― Bernama