KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower as the weak market sentiment following the rising local Covid-19 cases took a toll on investors’ risk appetite.

Despite the strong Wall Street closing last night and some gains in major regional markets, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.61 points to 1,602.64 against 1,608.25 at yesterday's close.

The index — which opened 0.81 of-a-point weaker at 1,607.44 — moved between 1,600.3 and 1,609.11 throughout the session.

The overall market breadth was weak with losers leading gainers 545 to 381, while 948 counters were unchanged, 305 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.6 billion shares worth RM2.43 billion.

The daily tally of new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia surged to 2,148 yesterday from 1,889 a day earlier.

The last time the country recorded more than 2,000 daily cases was on March 5, with 2,154 cases.

This, however, helped to push the Healthcare Index higher by 3.92 points to 3,150.86.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd eased two sen each to RM8.28, RM4.21 and RM5.33, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd shed four sen each to RM7.87 and RM10.08, respectively.

Of the active counters, UCrest Bhd bagged 6.5 sen to 36 sen, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd gave up 3.5 sen for 20.5 sen, Careplus Group Bhd added 11 sen to RM2.03, and Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd rose eight sen to RM1.45.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 33.45 points lower at 11,818.38, the FBMT 100 lost 36.06 points to 11,472.78, the FBM 70 contracted 33.44 points to 15,666.94, the FBM Emas Shariah declined 31.48 points to 13,219.97 and the FBM ACE fell 54.62 points to 8,808.68.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.82 of-a-point to 195.59, the Plantation Index erased 62.65 points to 6,867.72 and the Financial Services Index trimmed 19.84 points to 15,090.24.