KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower as investors sold heavyweight stocks amid a downbeat regional performance.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shrank by 9.99 points to 1,619.19 compared to Thursday's close of 1,629.18.

The barometer index opened 4.22 points weaker at 1,624.96 and fluctuated between 1,614.83 and 1,624.96 throughout the morning session.

Losers outnumbered gainers at 860 to 309, with 441 counters unchanged, 796 untraded, and 10 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.37 billion units worth RM2.43 billion.

Malacca Securities Research said after a brief pullback, the FBM KLCI charged towards fresh 52-week high, with the support of utilities heavyweights, while the FBM ACE started to break its 52-week high.

Meanwhile, the firm said sentiment on Wall Street was mixed despite better-than-expected results from NVIDIA, better-than-expected manufacturing and services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)  data and softer-than-expected new homes sales.

"Given the mixed trading on Wall Street, coupled with weaker quarter on quarter (QoQ) results on the local corporate recently, we expect profit taking to emerge on the local exchange," it said. Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd stayed flat at RM9.99 and Public Bank Bhd eased one RM4.19 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd added two sen to RM13.12 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was unchanged at RM6.88.

In active trading, YTL Power International Bhd slipped 44 sen to RM4.94, Ta Win Holdings Bhd stayed flat at four sen while SNS Network Technology Bhd rose three sen to 66 sen. Ends