KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session broadly lower on Wednesday (July 6) as investors remained on the sidelines amid heightened inflationary pressure and a lack of fresh catalysts.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was 15.08 points or 1.05% lower at 1,425.73 from Tuesday’s close at 1,440.81.  

The benchmark index, which opened 1.76 points higher at 1,442.57, moved between 1,425.08 and 1,448.09 throughout the morning session.

Overall market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 565 to 201, while 367 counters were unchanged, 1,090 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.2 billion units worth RM712.87 million.

Malacca Securities said all eyes would be on Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting and the interest rate decision on Wednesday, and traders may favour banking stocks ahead of the conclusion of the MPC meeting. 

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) added one sen to RM8.62 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose six sen to RM5.11, while Public Bank Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd were flat at RM4.41 and RM6.40 respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd trimmed 66 sen to RM8.46 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) depreciated nine sen to RM7.93.

Of the actives, Jade Marvel Group Bhd inched up half a sen to 91 sen, Yong Tai Bhd was flat at 8.5 sen, Sapura Energy Bhd edged down half a sen to four sen and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd shed 8.5 sen to 91.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 101.04 points to 10,142.47, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shaved off 172.59 points to 10,193.54, FBM 70 shed 85.56 points to 12,222.0, FBM ACE went down 27.16 points to 4,619.81 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 96.37 points to 9,897.63.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 19.37 points to 16,103.55, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 5.78 points lower at 175.17, and the Plantation Index narrowed 256.88 points to 6,558.50.