KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia were lower at mid-afternoon today, weighed down by persistent selling in selected plantation counters, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index fell 2.25 points to 1,848.48.

The losers-to-gainers ratio was 351-to-338, with 316 counters unchanged, 619 untraded and 30 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.14 billion shares worth RM970.9 million.

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index lost 9.7 points to 3,194.93 and the Plantation Index declined 56.14 points to 8,981.99.

The Finance Index, however, added 2.71 points to 16,661.48.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 10.48 points to 12,777.44, the FBMT100 Index declined 12.71 points to 12,437.55 and the FBM Ace fell 17.47 points to 6,681.17 and the FBM 70 eased 0.38 of a point to 13,911.85.

Among actives, R&A Telecommunication eased half a sen to 4.5 sen and Xidelang and Marco Holdings slipped one sen each to 29.5 sen and 17 sen, respectively.

Insas, however, rose seven sen to RM1.28.        

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and TNB went down two sen each to RM9.64, RM11.96 and RM7.15, respectively.

Axiata rose one sen to RM6.67. ― Bernama