KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red today, extending yesterday’s losses dragged by profit taking in heavyweight stocks led by glove makers.

The movement of the Malaysian equity market was in line with regional peers which took a cue from the overnight fall of US stocks due to technology stocks sell-off.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.38 points to 1,550.36 from Tuesday's close of 1,564.74.

The key index opened 5.92 points lower at 1,558.82 and moved between 1,539.61 and 1,560.95 throughout the morning session.

Market breadth was negative, as losers thumped gainers 1,019 to 193, while 206 counters were unchanged, 568 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 13.14 billion shares worth RM5.09 billion.

Regionally, China's Shanghai Stock Exchange slipped 1.99 per cent to 3,273.75, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index reduced 0.19 per cent 24,842.89, Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.25 per cent to 2,537.71, while Japan’s Nikkei Index gained 0.43 per cent to 22848.92,

AxiCorp chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said stocks in Asia are trading mostly lower after a rally in US equities fizzled late in the session amid concern over stimulus package from Washington.

On the local front, a dealer said the market was traded lower throughout the morning session with selling in the healthcare sector particularly stocks related to glove maker continued to weigh on the barometer index.

Trading volume also remained high on profit takings by retail investors, as the rotational play among the lower liners kept trading activities at an elevated level, she added.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank gained six sen to RM7.55, Public Bank rose 20 sen to RM17.12 and Tenaga advanced 12 sen at RM11.12.

Top Glove dropped RM2.46 to RM24.84 and Hartalega slipped RM1.54 to RM16.76.

Among the most active, Sapura Energy slid 1.5 to 13 sen, Pegasus and Lambo and eased half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and six sen respectively, AT Systematization shed two sen to 11 sen while NetX was flat at two sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 153.43 points to 11,113.13, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 298.38 points lower at 13,016.07 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 136.66 points to 10,940.61.

The FBM 70 dropped 317.05 points to 14,333.15 while the FBM ACE tumbled 624.86 points to 10,015.32.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index declined 28.60 points to 6,950.94, the Industrial Products and Services Index reduced 2.36 points to 136.95 but the Financial Services Index was up 74.77 points at 13,017.28. — Bernama