KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, with the key index approaching the 1,500 psychological mark amid a quiet market ahead of the Chinese New Year long weekend.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.64 points to 1,511.34 from yesterday’s close of 1,512.98.

The barometer index, which opened 0.47 of-a-point easier at 1,512.51, moved between 1,510.20 and 1,514.05 during the session.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers 509 to 286, while 457 counters were unchanged, 1,008 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.911 billion units worth RM981.15 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key index is expected to hover within the 1,510-1,520 range today.

He noted that the FBM KLCI closed in positive territory on Tuesday following a rather volatile afternoon session, illustrating a strong market undertone.

"Despite the persistent buying from foreign funds, we notice that retail participation may have dried out as depicted by the lower daily volumes of late.

"Nonetheless, we are confident that funds flowing into blue chips will eventually spill over to the smaller caps plus the positive intervention from China in shoring up both the Chinese and Kong Kong markets,” Thong said.

Meanwhile, among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional rose two sen to RM10.80, CelcomDigi advanced four sen to RM4.23, Press Metal was flat at RM4.65, Maybank declined four sen to RM9.27, Public Bank gave up two sen to RM4.37, and CIMB slid one sen to RM6.20.

As for the actives, ACE market debutant AGX increased 2.5 sen to 37.5 sen, Widad edged up half-a-sen to seven sen, YTL Power jumped 16 sen to RM4.03, Velesto was flat at 25.5 sen, Reneuco fell 2.5 sen to 5.5 sen, and Minetech eased one sen to 13 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 23.99 points lower at 11,210.98, and the FBMT 100 Index fell 20.75 points to 10,878.47.

The FBM ACE Index increased 31.78 points to 4,7139.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 35.66 points to 11,233.02, and the FBM 70 Index decreased 65.67 points to 15,094.86.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went down 6.75 points to 7,167.59 and the Financial Services Index decreased 46.92 points to 16,914.39.

The Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.95 of-a-point to 171.55, the Property Index shed 7.04 points to 900.60, and the Energy Index dipped 2.33 points to 876.32. ― Bernama