KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 —  Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at the end of the morning trading session today, weighed down by selling pressure in heavyweights stocks, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 0.66 per cent or 10.53 points to 1,578.66 from last Friday’s close of 1,589.19.

It opened 1.48 points better at 1,590.67 and moved between 1,578.35 and 1,592.16 throughout the morning session.

In the broader market, losers led gainers at 472 versus 466, while 420 counters were unchanged, 880 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.61 billion units worth RM1.52 billion.

A dealer said the local equity market’s performance bucked the uptrend in most regional peers.

Asian shares were mostly up on Monday morning, led by the rally in the Japanese stock market amidst the imminent resignation of Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga, which spurred hopes that the Covid-19 pandemic in the country would be better managed by his successor.

However, investors remained cautious as they pondered on the United States’ much weaker-than-expected jobs report released last Friday and its implication to the world’s largest economy.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.29 per cent to 3,092.73, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 0.51 per cent to 26,034.11, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.84 per cent to 29,664.79.

However, South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.04 per cent to 3,199.91.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank fell four sen to RM8.32, Public Bank shed five sen to RM4.08, Petronas Chemicals slipped nine sen to RM8.15, Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM10.26, while IHH Healthcare was up five sen to RM6.38.

Of the actives, Emico gained 9.5 sen to 46.5 sen, KNM perked 1.5 sen to 30 sen and XOX improved one sen to 4.5 sen.

Bina Puri slid half-a-sen to 5.5 sen, while Avillion was flat at 13 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 36.0 points to 11,558.98, the FBMT 100 Index was 40.8 points lower at 11,252.19, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 35.07 points to 12,659.68.

The FBM ACE shed 4.20 points to 7,247.58, while the FBM 70 increased 78.30 points to 15,178.55.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 77.46 points to 6,622.23, the Financial Services Index dropped 82.82 points to 15,453.95 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 199.64. — Bernama