KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower on Wednesday (Feb 22), tracking the dismal Wall Street performance overnight. 

At lunch break, the benchmark FBM KLCI had fallen 5.95 points to 1,468.06, from Tuesday's closing at 1,474.01.  

The key index opened 1.52 points easier at 1,472.49, and moved between 1,467.37 and 1,473.23 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 581 to 223, while 365 counters were unchanged, 1,054 untraded, and 11 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.87 billion units worth RM932.14 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors might stay on the sidelines as expectations of interest rate hikes continued to affect market sentiment following Wall Street’s heavy plunge overnight.

“The US Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes will remain in focus and should provide more clues going forward,” the brokerage firm said in a research note on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bursa heavyweights CIMB Group Holdings Bhd advanced four sen to RM5.48, IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM6.05, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) at RM8.69 and Public Bank Bhd at RM4.14 had both eased one sen, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd dwindled nine sen to RM8.27. 

As for the actives, Capital A Bhd improved by five sen to 72 sen, AirAsia X Bhd jumped 18 sen to 86 sen, and SMRT Holdings Bhd gained two sen to 32 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd was flat at 19 sen, MyEG Services Bhd went down 1.5 sen to 64.5 sen, and Scope Industries Bhd trimmed 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index fell 47.70 points to 10,337.81, the FBM Emas Index was 51.24 points easier at 10,660.39, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 75.17 points to 10,982.82, the FBM 70 slid 86.84 points to 13,387.65, and the FBM ACE shrank 24.69 points to 5,494.73.  

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.85 points to 186.91, the Financial Services Index gave up 2.04 points to 16,039.46, and the Plantation Index contracted 23.0 points to 6,830.34.