KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6  — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) remained in the negative territory at mid-afternoon today, dampened by continued profit taking in index-linked heavyweights.

At 3.20

pm, the FBM KLCI was 8.12 points easier at 1,831.17, after hitting a low of 1,830.58.

Losers in the composite index component stocks were led by Tenaga Nasional which eased 46 sen to RM13.00, Axiata lost seven sen to RM7.00, and British American Tobacco tumbled RM1.56 to RM66.30.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 435 to 340 with 287 counters unchanged, 585 counters untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.70 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion.

The FBM Emas Index shed 47.93 points to 12,719.63, FBMT100 Index declined 48.01 points to 12,362.42 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 64.04 points to 13,188.39.

The FBM 70 declined 28.37 points to 13,984.87, while the FBM Ace advanced 45.45 points to 6,633.86.

The Finance Index dipped 9.83 points to 16,634.46, while the Industrial Index eased 8.91 points to 3,274.59 and the Plantation Index lost 10.03 points to 8,478.01.

Of the active stocks, Malaysian Airline System shed three sen to 23 sen with 169.47 million units traded.

PDZ Holdings and Asia Bioenergy warrants (A) both edged up half-a-sen each to 26.5 sen and 7.0 sen, respectively. — Bernama