KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia slipped into the red at mid-morning today, dampened by losses in selected heavyweights, as traders remained on the sidelines, a dealer said.

At 11 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI)stood at 1,712.26, down 6.14 points from Friday’s close of 1,718.40. It had opened 2.21 points lower at 1,716.19, and traded as low as 1,710.35 at one point.

Maybank led the lag in the composite index component stocks in easing three sen to RM9.10, with Tenaga slipping ten sen to RM14.28, and Public Bank shedding six sen to RM19.14. IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.69.

The dealer said the local bourse remained cautious after Petronas announced it would further cut its capex and opex by another RM50 billion over the next four years, given the prevailing low global crude oil prices.

Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM6.69, Petronas Gas declined two sen to RM21.88, Sapura Kencana traded unchanged at RM1.82, Armada shed half-a-sen to 73.5 sen and Dialog slipped one sen to RM1.59.

Other oil and gas related stocks were flat to lower following the news.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index slid 46.16 points to 11,906.38, the FBMT100 Index declined 45.29 points to 11,601.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 41.07 points to 12,500.96.

The FBM 70 depreciated 65.09 points to 13,272.90, while the FBM Ace rose 32.57 points to 5,739.86.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index lost 70.94 points to 14,801.60, the Industrial Index dipped 0.96 of a point to 3,264.97 and the Plantation Index shed 5.16 points to 7,816.36.  

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 372 to 216 with 312 counters unchanged, 811 counters untraded and 10 others suspended.     

Turnover stood at 578.18 million shares worth RM312.85 million.

Among actives, Vivocom gained one sen to 32 sen, EA Holdings and Tiger bagged half-a-sen each to 11.5 sen and 5.5 sen respectively, while Pesona added one sen to 39.5 sen.

On regional markets, the performance was mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 declining 1.27 per cent to 15,620.43, Singapore’s Straits Times dipped 0.16 per cent to 2,803.89, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.59 per cent to 20,491.14. — Bernama