KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red, as overall sentiment remained tepid amid uncertainties ahead of the 15th general election (GE15) this weekend, a dealer said.

At the lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.15 points lower at 1,446.23 compared with Wednesday's close of 1,448.38.

The market bellwether opened 1.82 points easier at 1,446.56.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 461 to 256, while 334 counters were unchanged, 1,281 untraded and 47 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.19 billion units valued at RM776.55 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said some bargain-hunting activities were expected today on financial stocks, which had declined over the past week.

"We expect the FBM KLCI to trend in the 1,440-1,455 range today,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank and CIMB gained five sen each to RM8.56 and RM5.40, respectively, and Public Bank and IHH Healthcare added one sen each to RM4.31 and RM5.96, respectively. Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.62.

Among the actives, Advance Synergy rose one sen to 13 sen, Perdana Petroleum widened two sen to 11 sen, and Malayan United Industries edged up half-a-sen to nine sen, while Top Glove reduced three sen to 93 sen and Widad Group inched down one sen to 37.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 52.66 points to 10,400.15, the FBM Emas Index declined 19.98 points to 10,274.98, the FBM ACE slid 48.78 points to 4,948.39, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 18.35 points to 10,005.51, and the FBM 70 dropped 36.40 points to 12,217.65.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 50.01 points to 6,852.19 and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.41 of a point to 178.36, while the Financial Services Index bagged 68.47 points to 16,157.78 and the Energy Index improved 0.29 of a point to 720.39. ― Bernama