KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session broadly lower ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Monetary Policy Meeting tomorrow, with market participants anticipating another 25 basis points hike, aimed at taming inflationary pressures.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 9.65 points or 0.67 per cent to 1,440.09 from Friday’s close of 1,449.74.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.24 of-a-point easier at 1,449.50, moved between 1,439.47 and 1,449.50 throughout the session.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 594 to 196, while 314 counters were unchanged, 1,124 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.03 billion units worth RM501.49 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the local bourse to remain volatile as inflationary pressure and recession fears continued, noting that investors were likely to stay cautious prior to Malaysia’s interest rate decision and the United States’ Federal Open Market Committee meeting later this month.

“As for the second half of 2022, we remain optimistic on the recovery-themed stocks such as banking, consumer and tourism.

“Additionally, the energy sector may gain traction on the back of persistent tight supply in the market, and investors may scoop up technology shares in view of the rebound on Nasdaq,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM9.11, while Maybank slipped four sen to RM8.59, Public Bank declined three sen to RM4.39, IHH Healthcare went down seven sen to RM6.41, and CIMB eased two sen to RM5.01.

Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange inched down half-a-sen to 79.5 sen, Jade Marvel and Widad were flat at 91 sen and 36.5 sen, respectively, while Top Glove shed two sen to 99 sen and Cypark decreased 2.5 sen to 32.5 sen.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index depreciated 67.59 points to 10,248.29, FBM Emas Shariah Index was 88.43 points easier to 10,392.55, FBM 70 fell 61.39 points to 12,342.15, FBM ACE trimmed 101.13 points to 4,683.39, and FBMT 100 Index discounted 62.95 points to 9,996.76.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 42.15 points to 16,014.66, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.95 of-a-point easier at 180.74, and the Plantation Index shrank 40.73 points to 6,883.99. — Bernama