Bursa Malaysia in negative territory at mid-afternoon

Bursa Malaysia continued to trade in negative territory at mid-afternoon today, weighed on by losses in Petronas Gas and selected index-linked counters.

At 3 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.96 points to 1,784.37, against last Friday's close of 1,786.33.

Earlier, the benchmark index opened 3.4 points easier at 1,782.93.

Market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 411 to 385, with 343 counters unchanged, 703 untraded and 36 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.29 billion shares worth RM813.08 million.

Petronas Gas fell 16 sen to RM18.42, IHH shed 11 sen to RM5.89 and Genting Malaysia, PPB Group and Hong Leong Financial lost 10 sen each to RM5.72, RM16.66 and RM17.06 respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 11.58 points lower at 12,712.1, the FBM 70 eased 23.01 points to 15,223.87, and the FBMT 100 Index fell 14.86 points to 12,373.08, as the FBM Emas Shariah declined 22.36 points to 12,905.62.

The FBM Ace was 18.57 points higher at 6,711.17.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index improved 13.23 points to 16,842.21, but the Industrial Index eased 3.98 points to 3,238.57 and the Plantation Index slid 6.29 points to 7,964.37.

Among heavyweight's, Maybank increased 10 sen to RM9.80 and TNB and Public Bank added four sen each to RM14.60 and RM20.58 respectively.

Sime Darby eased one sen to RM9.19 and CIMB lost seven sen to RM6.68.

Of the active counters, Sino Hua-an improved two sen to 25.5 sen, with Vizione and Vivocom earning one sen each to 15.5 sen and 14 sen.

MLabs and Trive Property were flat at 10 sen and 12.5 sen respectively.

-- BERNAMA