KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower on widespread profit taking amid mixed regional bourses coupled with subdued overnight Wall Street performance, said dealers.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) eased 8.1 points to 1,598.04 after moving between 1,596.45 and 1,609.51 throughout the morning session.

The index opened 3.37 points higher at 1,609.51 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,606.14.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 600 to 467, while 428 counters were unchanged, 673 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Volume stood at 5.99 billion units worth RM2.78 billion.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei trimmed 0.48 per cent to 30,321.46, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng increased 0.65 per cent to 30,946.1 and Singapore’s STI was down 0.46 per cent to 2,921.75.

In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said Wall Street took a breather as rising bond yields kept traders sidelined on concerns of possible higher borrowing costs.

 On the domestic front, while the FBM KLCI again succumbed to late selling activities yesterday, especially on the glove counters, Rakuten noticed that funds were shifting to smaller cap companies.

“Though the FBM KLCI may see some recovery possibly to above the 1,610 level, surging trading volume is indicative that retailers are back in force.

“We expect interests to remain on oil and gas stocks with the Brent crude staying above US$63 per barrel,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased five sen to RM8.09, Public Bank trimmed one sen to RM4.21 and PChem retreated 23 sen to RM7.52.

Meanwhile, Tenaga added three sen to RM9.93 and Top Glove rose nine sen to RM6.15.

Of the actives, DGB Asia decreased three sen to 11.5 sen and Lambo inched down half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and Dagang Nexchange improved one sen each to 14.5 sen and 55 sen, respectively.

Meanwhile Dataprep gained 19 sen to 61 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 50.69 points to 11,699.31, the FBMT 100 Index declined 56.77 points to 11,390.72, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 54.25 points lower at 13,127.9.

The FBM 70 slid 72.96 points to 15,365.33, and the FBM ACE fell 87.14 points to 11,264.99.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 60.02 points to 15,129.72, the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped 1.74 points to 182.55, and the Plantation Index slipped 3.38 points to 7,110.88. ― Bernama