KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session marginally lower today due to the prevailing cautious sentiment.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.55 points to 1,423.34 from yesterday’s closing of 1,424.89.

The barometer index opened 0.03 of a point lower at 1,424.86 and traded sideways between 1,421.62 and 1,426.24 during the session.

Market breadth was negative as decliners led gainers 340 to 333, while 343 counters were unchanged, 1,200 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.28 billion units worth RM700.46 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said bargain-hunting activities may emerge later in the afternoon session as Wall Street had rebounded overnight.

"However, the upside might be capped today as investors might be cautious due to the shortened trading week in the United States and Hong Kong,” it said.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank was flat at RM8.65, Public Bank fell three sen to RM3.98, Petronas Chemicals added 18 sen to RM7.43, CIMB lost 10 sen to RM5.16, and TNB trimmed four sen to RM9.21.

As for the actives, Sunsuria rallied 6.5 sen to 68 sen, Top Glove gained four sen to RM1.06, Careplus increased one sen to 35 sen, Fitters was unchanged at 7.5 sen while Computer Forms eased two sen to 22 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 5.52 points to 10,460.66, the FBMT 100 Index improved by 3.88 points to 10,144.43 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index strengthened 35.66 points to 10,798.34.

The FBM 70 Index went up 67.01 points to 13,656.66 while the FBM ACE Index was 31.74 points lower at 5,296.47.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 60.30 points to 15,685.65, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.20 points to 174.28, the Energy Index perked up 2.44 points to 864.09, and the Plantation Index gained 6.99 points to 6,730.25. — Bernama