KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 3): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading in the red, trading below the 1,490 level as buying support in blue chips was subdued, a dealer said.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.72 points easier at 1,488.08 compared to Thursday's close of 1,489.8.

The key index opened 0.76 of-a-point stronger at 1,490.56 and subsequently moved between 1,487.01 and 1,493.34 throughout the session.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 466 versus 387, while 364 counters were unchanged, 953 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.57 billion units worth RM1.19 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that as the corporate results season has started, the firm reckoned most of the big caps would show decent earnings growth for 2022, particularly the banks, energy and consumer sectors.

“For today (Friday), we expect the index to possibly trend within the 1,490-1,500 range.

“Meanwhile, we notice that consensus opinions had changed on the domestic interest rate scenario as most anticipate BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia) to maintain the overnight policy rate indefinitely which is good news for equities,” he said in a research note.

On heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd fell four sen to RM8.68, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was six sen easier at RM5.64, and Axiata Group Bhd declined six sen to RM3.01, while Sime Darby Plantation Bhd lost seven sen to RM4.38.

As for the actives, Borneo Oil Bhd was flat at two sen, Sapura Energy Bhd was unchanged at five sen, Zen Tech International Bhd lost one sen to six sen, ATA IMS Bhd gained four sen to 47.5 sen, and Ta Win Holdings Bhd was unchanged at seven sen.

On the index board,  the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 11.86 points to 11,196.88, the FBM 70 accumulated 26.32 points to 13,882.36 and the FBM ACE Index added 46.32 points to 5,857.64.

But the FBM Emas Index lost 5.06 points to 10,872.94 and the FBMT 100 Index was 4.6 points lower at 10,534.48.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.73 of-a-point to 191, but the Plantation Index narrowed 6.33 points to 6,897.34, the Financial Services Index shed 44.38 points to 16,297.26 and the Energy Index was 2.07 points easier at 905.5.