KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower due to continuous profit-taking, in tandem with its Asian peers.

The market sentiment remained subdued as investors await China’s loan prime rate decision tomorrow to gauge the market direction after the world’s second-largest economy cut its key lending rates last week.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.94 points to 1,384.67 from 1,388.61 at last Friday’s close.

The key index opened 4.72 points lower at 1,383.89 this morning and moved between 1,379.83 and 1,385.70 throughout the morning session.

The broader market was negative as decliners outpaced gainers 427 to 300, while 379 counters were unchanged, 1,187 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.25 billion units worth RM716.55 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although the FBM KLCI closed on a good note last Friday, sentiments are expected to stay subdued as the recent uptrend is less than convincing.

"Therefore, we expect the index to remain in consolidation mode and hover in the 1,380-1,390 range today.

"Buying should return to plantation stocks following the crude palm oil’s recent rise to above RM3,700 per tonne due to corruption investigations in Indonesia,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing partner, Stephen Innes noted that as Wall Street is closed for the United States’ (US) Juneteenth National Independence Day today, the trading volume in Asia and Europe will be much lower than usual.

"Still, investors will likely set the table for tomorrow’s interest rate decision in China, where it is widely expected that the key benchmark lending rate will be trimmed to jump-start a sputtering economy.

"With the wide disparity between the Federal Reserve and the market’s forward inflation expectations, we might see some cautious trading, perhaps shaded to more profit-taking following Friday’s soft sell-off on the US markets,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose six sen to RM8.63 and CIMB gained seven sen to RM5.05, while Tenaga Nasional shed four sen to RM9.16, IHH Healthcare slipped seven sen to RM5.89 and Public Bank was flat at RM3.87.

Of the actives, Sarawak Consolidated bagged 1.5 sen to 42 sen, Boustead Plantation gained nine sen to 98 sen and Top Glove lost four sen to 93.5 sen, while KNM Group and Widad were flat at 8.5 sen and 42 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 29.01 points lower at 10,218.61, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 28.55 points to 9,915.81, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 62.98 points to 10,548.80, the FBM 70 Index declined 40.57 points to 13,544.14, and the FBM ACE Index shed 31.35 points to 5,094.41.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index slid 3.20 points to 790.69 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.85 points to 158.94, while the Financial Services Index rose 66.35 points to 15,239.67 and the Plantation Index surged 96.26 points to 6,744.80. — Bernama