KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red across the board, tracking the slide in Asian markets after the weaker overnight performance of Wall Street.

A dovish US Federal Reserve's statement yesterday, signalling the interest rates to remain at the current level until 2022 while projecting a gloomy economic outlook, has sent the US shares lower, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 15.31 points lower at 1,559.96 from yesterday’s close of 1,575.27.

The index opened 2.38 points better at 1,577.65 and hovered between 1,559.01 and 1,586.22  throughout the early trading session.

Market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced gainers by 727 to 294, while 379 counters were unchanged, 509 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 5.56 billion units worth RM2.85 billion.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia opened higher but succumbed to selling pressure across the board at mid-morning.

Sentiment turned more downbeat in general as investors flocked to the safe-haven assets, he said.

AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said a combination of post Fed’s hangover and reports of a substantial increase in virus case counts in Texas have left traders in a state of risk limbo with the market appears without a clear direction.

“It appears that the markets are having trouble digesting the Texas virus outbreak headlines coming so quickly on the heels of a soft economic reopening.

“After all, a secondary outbreak is nothing to sneeze at as traders remain in a state of risk limbo watching risk assets for signs of continuation or stall,” he added.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei shed 2.54 per cent to 22,537.51, Singapore's Straits Times slipped 2.49 per cent to 2,730.91 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.03 per cent to 24,791.36.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell 16 sen to RM8.04, Public Bank declined 22 sen to RM17.12 and IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM5.55.

Tenaga added two sen to RM11.98 while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.90.

Of the most actives, AT Systematization improved 4.5 sen to 17 sen, Luster Industries and  AT Systematization warrant added two sen each at 12 sen and 8.5 sen respectively, Minetech resources gained 2.5 sen to 26 sen each to eight sen while Pegasus was flat at one sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 110.40 points to 10,993.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index down 92.29 points at 12,420.27 and the FBM 70 fell 121.42 points to 13,581.31.

 The FBM ACE declined 78.56 points to 5,916.99 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 104.18 points to 10,847.07.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.62 points to 140.27, the Financial Services Index tumbled 221.77 points to 13,625.59, but the Plantation Index added 2.25 points to 6,838.91. ― Bernama