KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 21): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session on Wednesday (Dec 21) in negative territory, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweight counters, said an analyst.

Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd dragged the composite index down by a combined 4.94 points.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.42 points to 1,461.9 from Tuesday's closing of 1,467.32.

The market bellwether opened 0.31 of-a-point easier at 1,467.01, and moved between 1,461.40 and 1,469.42 during the session.

On the broader market, decliners led advancers 431 versus 321, while 363 counters were unchanged, 1,149 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.55 billion units valued at RM799.07 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president (equity research) Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were mostly lower on Wednesday following the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) surprise move to tighten its monetary policy that pushed the US 10-year yield to above the 3.69% level.

“Due to the aggressive stance by BOJ on interest rates, the Japanese yen strengthened against the ringgit which may put some pressure on the local automotive stocks, making Japanese imports more expensive.

“The regional markets’ sentiment remained jittery on interest rates following BOJ’s move. Back home, despite the improving political scene, we reckon sentiment to remain cautious,” he told Bernama.

Thong also expects the index to trend between 1,465 and 1,480 on Wednesday.

Bursa heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained three sen to RM8.73, Public Bank Bhd rose three sen to RM4.40, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost eight sen to RM8.10, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd dropped three sen to RM5.79, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd declined four sen to RM9.14.

Of the actives, Citaglobal Bhd improved two sen to 29.5 sen, Sunview Group Bhd rose three sen to 62.5 sen, Nylex (M) Bhd was up three sen at 35 sen, while Advance Synergy Bhd eased half-a-sen to 18 sen, and JAKS Resources Bhd decreased 3.5 sen to 24.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 34.61 points to 10,498.24, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 68.74 points lower at 10,572.33, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 32.51 points to 10,207.71, the FBM 70 Index inched down 17.51 points to 12,845.7, and the FBM ACE Index pulled down 3.8 points to 5,470.53.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 58.89 points to 6,762.69, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.33 points to 175.4.

However, the Financial Services Index was up by 8.06 points to 16,556.41, and the Energy Index inched up 2.39 points to 785.59.