KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower due to selling pressure across the board.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.19 points to 1,503.74 from yesterday’s close of 1,512.93.

The index opened 0.95 of-a-point easier at 1,511.98 and moved between 1,502.62 and 1,512.01  throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 566 versus 256, while 399 counters were unchanged, 985 untraded and 64 others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 2.25 billion units worth RM1.16 billion.

A dealer said the local bourse stayed in the negative territory throughout the morning session amid uncertainties surrounding the market.

“The latest developments on the political scene saw the FBM KLCI ending in negative territory yesterday and the heightened political uncertainties continued to negatively affect the market,” he said.

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The local bourse’s performance was in line with its regional peers which turned lower despite the positive close on Wall Street overnight, due to concerns on the resurgence of Covid-19 cases globally, he noted.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index was almost flat at 3,180.70, South Korea’s Kospi reduced 0.97 per cent to 3,211.05, Japan’s Nikkei 225 decreased 1.67 per cent to 27,319.42, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.10 per cent to 25,762.02.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank slid one sen to RM8.03, Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM8.09, TNB slipped four sen to RM9.69, IHH Healthcare fell 10 sen to RM5.69, but Public Bank added one sen to RM4.00.

Among the actives, Kanger eased half-a-sen to six sen, AppAsia warrant added 3.5 sen to nine sen,  Tanco edged up half-a-sen to 21.5 sen, Sersol rose 10.5 sen to 58.5 sen, and AppAsia perked up half-a-sen to 16 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 58.58 points to 11,013.19, FBMT 100 Index went down 58.05 points to 10,724.82, FBM 70 shed 49.13 points to 14,493.12, FBM Emas Shariah Index was 78.66 points lower at 12,090.96, and the FBM ACE shed 23,64 points to 7,116.95.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 38.48 points to 14,741.81, the Plantation Index declined 56.55 points to 6,135.80, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.63 of-a-point to 187.36. ― Bernama