KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session in the negative territory, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweight stocks, led by the plantation sector.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.52 points to 1,525.81 from Wednesday's close of 1,531.33.

The index opened 4.44 points higher at 1,543.15, and fluctuated between 1,525.86 and 1,540.61 throughout the morning session.

The market was closed on Thursday for Deepavali.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 547 to 381, while 421 counters were unchanged, 942 untraded and 31 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.78 billion units worth RM1.18 billion.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia had opened higher after taking its cue from the stronger overnight Nasdaq performance, as investors mulled the United States Federal Reserve’s decision to begin tapering asset purchases later this month.

However, it turned lower at mid-morning as investors off-loaded heavyweight stocks.

“The local bourse’s upside potential was still limited by the market sentiment brought on by the Budget 2022 prosperity tax and stamp duty changes as investors are still digesting the impact,” he said.

He noted that Bursa’s performance was in tandem with its regional peers, where Chinese markets were weighed down by concerns over property developers.

Regionally, Japanese Nikkei 225 slipped 0.78 per cent to 29,561.74, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.95 per cent to 24,985.05, South Korea’s Kospi shaved 0.44 per cent to 2,970.23, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index improved 0.59 per cent to 3,238.62.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank and Tenaga added one sen each to RM8.01 and RM9.59,  respectively, Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.01, Petronas Chemicals reduced one sen to RM8.30 and IHH Healthcare lost seven sen to RM6.45.

Of the actives, NWP Holdings perked four sen to 34 sen, KNM  bagged one sen to 20.5 sen, ARB slipped eight sen to 19 sen, VS Industry warrant slid 5.5 sen to 43 sen, while Dagang Nexchange was flat at 78.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 28.66 points to 11,329.85, the FBMT 100 Index declined 29.76 points to 10,954.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 20.40 points to 12,379.25, the FBM 70 eased 2.51 points to 15,088.70, while the FBM ACE gained 18.13 points to 7,092.09.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.58 of-a-point to 202.47, the Plantation Index gave up 88.10 points to 6,700.40, and the Financial Services Index fell 60.55 points to 15,126.54. ― Bernama