KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session broadly lower due to weaker market sentiments following the ongoing domestic political developments.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 8.45 points to 1,496.66 from Friday’s close of 1,505.11.

The market bellwether, which opened 5.19 points weaker at 1,499.92, fluctuated between 1,494.05 and 1,500.04 throughout the session.

On the broader market, losers hammered gainers 765 versus 189, while 338 counters were unchanged, 919 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.76 billion units worth RM1.18 billion

Rakuten Trade said the FBMKLCI could test the year’s low of 1,490 today as the local bourse is expected to experience some knee-jerk reactions due to the domestic political developments.

“This may throw more uncertainties into the market over the immediate term as we reckon sellers to emerge.

“Though bargain hunting is expected to appear, we see the index to trend lower at around the 1,485-1,500 range today as sentiments become jittery,” it said in a research note today.

Of the heavyweights, TNB gained three sen to RM9.69, IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.80, Maybank eased one sen to RM8.04, Public Bank and CIMB were two sen easier at RM3.92 and RM4.58, respectively, while Press Metal and Hong Leong Bank fell six sen to RM4.94 and RM18.16, respectively.

Among the actives, Avillion increased 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, KNM and Advanced Synergy inched up half-a-sen each to 21.5 sen and 17.5 sen, respectively, while Impiana Hotels was flat at seven sen, Dagang Nexchange fell 3.5 sen to 75 sen and TA Win was one sen lower at 15 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 78.68 points lower at 10,936.34, the FBMT 100 Index shed 74.23 points to 10,657.50, the FBM 70 depreciated 154.77 points to 14,336.54, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 103.49 points to 11,987.72, and the FBM ACE reduced 91.84 points to 7,047.94.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went down 61.87 points to 14,721.23, the Plantation Index fell 12.33 points to 6,201.08, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.07 points to 186.95. — Bernama