KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session easier today on a range-bound mode amid mixed performances of the regional bourses, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.99 points easier at 1,715.43, after moving between 1,713.55 and 1,716.76 throughout the morning session.

The index opened 1.08 points easier at 1,716.34 from yesterday's close of 1,717.42.

Market breadth was negative with decliners led gainers by 431 to 333 with 363 counters unchanged, 571 untraded and 23 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.76 billion shares worth RM1.44 billion.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia was also affected by the lack of catalysts with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 0.02 per cent to 23,496.80, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.03 per cent to 3,215.88 and Taiwan Weighted declined 0.44 per cent to 9,616.03.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose nine sen to RM8.82, Public Bank was up two sen to RM19.82 and Maxis was one sen stronger at RM6.42.

TNB and MISC were flat at RM13.74 and RM7.44, respectively.

Of the actives, Iskandar Waterfront was 52 sen higher at RM2.28, Ekovest rose 17 sen to RM1.46 and UEM Sunrise improved five sen to RM1.24.

Hibiscus Petroleum declined two sen to 43.5 sen and Dagang Nexchange was one sen lower at 39.5 sen.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index fell 8.6 points to 15,393.86, Industrial Index declined 15.02 points to 3,222.51 and the Plantation Index eased 14.63 points to 8,070.03.

The FBM Emas Index declined 6.39 points to 12,128.06, FBMT100 Index fell 10.74 points to 11,793.43, the FBM Ace eased 25.65 points to 5,302.03 and the FBM 70 declined 1.73 points to 14,129.4.

Meanwhile Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has issued an Unusual Market Activity query to Redtone International Bhd today due to the sharp rise in the company's share prices.

At lunch break, the shares rose 5.5 sen to 60 sen with 7.83 million shares traded.

Bursa Malaysia said investors were advised to take note of the company's reply to the UMA query which would be posted on the bourse's website under 'Company Announcements' when making their investment decisions. — Bernama