KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 ― Bursa Malaysia continued its downtrend to finish the morning session easier today, mainly dragged by selling in heavyweight counters led by CIMB.

A dealer said market sentiment remained cautious following the release of China's weaker-than-expected third-quarter gross domestic product figures and the lingering uncertainty over the US-China trade dispute.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.40 points lower at 1,568.75 from last Friday’s close of 1,571.15.

The benchmark index opened 2.37 points weaker at 1,568.78 and moved between 1,566.95 and 1,572.06 throughout the morning session.

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Market breadth was negative, with losers trouncing gainers 384 to 323, while 335 counters unchanged, 975 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.38 billion shares worth RM660.92 million.

However, the dealer said buying momentum was still seen in lower liners and broader market shares supported by retail participation.

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Topping the heavyweight losers list, CIMB fell four sen to RM4.96, followed by Sime Darby Plantation which declined five sen to RM4.76, Digi was four sen easier at RM4.65, Hong Leong Bank dropped 12 sen to RM16.88 and Genting was six sen lower at RM5.64.

Of the most actives, NetX slipped half-a-sen to two sen, Bumi Armada and MTAG bagged 2.5 sen each to 47 sen and 53.5 sen, respectively, while Sanichi and PUC were unchanged each at five sen and 5.5 sen, respectively.

Nestle emerged as the top losers,  erasing 90 sen to RM143.30, F&N lost 78 sen to RM34.42, Aeon Credit gave up 44 sen to RM15.96, Scientex was 26 sen weaker at RM9.24 and Takaful fell 12 sen to RM6.17.

The FBM 70 declined 18.31 points to 14,103.46, the FBMT 100 Index was 16.17 points easier at 10,988.63 but the FBM Ace advanced 77.12 points to 4,860.36.

The FBM Emas Index shed 13.51 points to 11,176.23, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 8.42 points to 11,792.81.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 51.74 points to 15,222.89, the Plantation Index edged down 9.99 points to 6,614.74 but the Industrial Products & Services Index ticked up 0.02 of a point to 152.58. ― Bernama