KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 ― Bursa Malaysia opened in negative territory today on weaker demand, with Petronas-linked companies topping the losers list.

At 9.25am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,696.39, down 8.64 points, after opening 4.67 points weaker at 1,700.36.

Losers outpaced gainers 220 to 129, while 189 counters were unchanged, 1,287 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 267.6 million shares worth RM136.84 million.                

Petronas Dagangan fell 46 sen to RM23.04, while Petronas Gas lost 34 sen to RM22.40.

Heavyweights were also mostly down this morning with Maybank, Tenaga and Public Bank down six sen each to RM8.55, RM12.76 and RM18.54 respectively

Among actives were MQ Technology, which eased half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, while Frontken and XOX were flat at 20 sen and 17.5 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 45.51 points lower at 11,710.34, the FBMT100 Index lost 48.53 points to 11,412.97 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 54.24 points to 12,481.31.

The FBM Ace decreased 48.58 points to 5.959.06 and the FBM 70 fell 18.85 points to 12,760.81.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 57.21 points to 14,549.34, the Industrial Index depreciated 22.32 points to 3,318.35 and the Plantation Index trimmed 8.35 points to 7,479.05. ― Bernama