KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were lower at mid-morning today due to losses in selected heavyweights as a result of profit-taking with the index turning increasingly overbought.

At 11.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,690.86, down 4.01 points against yesterday’s close of 1,694.87 points.

It opened 1.65 points easier at 1,693.22 at 9am.

Losers outpaced gainers 340 to 284, while 346 counters were unchanged, 719 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 961.5 million shares worth RM446.53 million.

Of the heavyweights, TNB and Public Bank eased two sen each to RM14.78 and RM19.86, respectively, Maybank lost one sen to RM7.99 and IHH was flat at RM6.68.

Among actives, Borneo Oil and AirAsia X were both flat at 19 sen and 47.5 sen, respectively, M3 Technologies was half-a-sen lower at 14.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index declined 20.66 points to 11,882.1, the FBMT100 Index lost 19.81 points to 11,582.44 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 24.1 points lower at 12,526.06.

The FBM Ace declined 44.67 points to 5,580.01 but the FBM 70 edged up 4.55 points to 13,709.78.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 27.62 points weaker at 14,505.88, the Industrial Index decreased 7.47 points to 3,181.31, and the Plantation Index improved 26.75 points to 7,731.2.  — Bernama