KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 15): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower, in tandem with the downtrend in regional markets, tracking the negative Wall Street overnight performance.

At lunch break on Thursday (Dec 15), the benchmark FBM KLCI had declined by 6.47 points to 1,476.70, from Wednesday's closing at 1,483.17.

The barometer index opened 1.39 points lower at 1,481.78, and moved between 1,475.67 and 1,482.11 during the morning session.

On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 443 to 290, while 379 counters were unchanged, 1,161 untraded, and 41 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.38 billion units worth RM754.95 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were choppy on Thursday, following US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish statement on future interest rate hikes.

“The hawkish rhetoric could keep traders holding on to their cash until the beginning of next year when the portfolio rebalancing starts.

“Investors will also be waiting for the December job and inflation reports for more direction," he told Bernama.

Among the Bursa heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) lost three sen to RM8.74 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) dropped three sen to RM9.31 a share, Public Bank Bhd shed five sen to RM4.39, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was unchanged at RM8.50, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd fell by six sen to RM5.77.

Of the actives, Advance Synergy Bhd gained one sen to 18.5 sen, Infomina Bhd advanced 12 sen to RM1.33, PT Resources Holdings Bhd rose six sen to 57 sen, Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd added four sen to 25.5 sen, and AHB Holdings Bhd was down by one sen to 14 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index contracted 38.25 points to 10,614.46, the FBMT 100 Index shed 40.50 points to 10,316.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 24.79 points to 10,758.12, the FBM 70 Index slipped 32.24 points to 12,998.29, and the FBM ACE Index reduced 43.77 points to 5,467.22.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 87.18 points lower at 16,582.39, the Plantation Index lost 21.24 points to 6,719.65, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.01 of a point to 181.37, while the Energy Index added 4.30 points to 799.66.