KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session broadly lower today, declining by 1.48 per cent on continuous selling pressure due to the risk-off sentiment following the dissolution of the Malaysian Parliament, a dealer said.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 20.81 points to 1,385.19 from Friday's close of 1,406.00.

The benchmark index, which opened 5.42 points lower at 1,400.58, remained in the negative territory throughout the session.

On the broader market, decliners trounced gainers 742 to 142, while 267 counters were unchanged, 1,208 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.34 billion units worth RM835.26 million. 

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the broader market traded lower, given the uncertainties ahead of the 15th general election (GE15), while foreign investors may extend their selling activities.

"The market may see selling pressure with the dissolution of parliament, but the investors will focus on the GE15 theme and may shift their attention to sectors such as construction, utilities as well as selected government-related stocks," it said. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 15 sen to RM8.50, Public Bank eased three sen to RM4.23 and IHH Healthcare weakened 23 sen to RM5.53, while CIMB and Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM5.27 and RM8.59, respectively.

Of the actives, Advance Synergy gained one sen to seven sen and Velesto lost one sen to 11 sen, while both MYEG and Bumi Armada gave up 1.5 sen to 89.5 sen and 38 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 150.68 points to 9,900.11, the FBM 70 weakened 185.53 points to 12,066.34, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 145.83 points to 9,652.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 188.40 points to 9,882.90, and the FBM ACE shrank 115.85 points to 4,593.12.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 148.12 points lower at 15,924.09, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 3.49 points to 170.56, the Plantation Index reduced 133.71 points to 6,333.61, and the Energy Index trimmed 21.29 points to 675.90.