The FBM KLCI ended the morning session lower on Monday in line with most regional peers and weighed down by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 6.46 points to 1,544.58 from 1,551.04 at the close last week.
The benchmark index opened 5.59 points lower at 1,545.45 and it moved between 1,542.97 to 1,548.34 during the session.
Broad market sentiment was negative as losers outnumbered gainers at 943 to 180. Meanwhile, 303 counters were unchanged, 926 were untraded and 11 others were suspended.
The total turnover is 2.7 billion units worth RM1.64 billion.
Most major regional markets were also lower at midday with Japan's Nikkei down 1.03% to 39,114.88, Singapore's Straits Times Index down 1.07% to 3,182.33, South Korea's Kospi down 0.78% to 2,660.94 and Hong Kong's Index down 5.9.4%.
Meanwhile, the local market showed Maybank Bhd added one sen to RM9.66, both Public Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd dropped four sen to RM4.14 and RM11.66 respectively, IHH Healthcare Bhd dropped three sen to RM6. 06 and CIMB Group holdings Bhd remained at RM6.61.
Among active stocks, Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd and Bina Puri Holdings Bhd were unchanged at 12 sen and eight sen respectively.
Dagang NeXchange Bhd lost one sen to 40.5 sen, SNS Network Technology Bhd lost three sen to 38 sen and Velesto Energy Bhd gained half a sen to 28 sen.
On the index board, FBM Gold Index fell 78.14 points to 11,619.68, FBMT 100 Index 68.08 points lower at 11,258.84, FBM Gold Shariah Index fell 84.95 points to 11,778.04, FBM ACE plunged 10,644 points to 4,997.68 while FBM 70 Index gave up 184.16 points 16,208.41.
