KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 ― Bursa Malaysia was easier at mid-morning today, with selling seen in heavyweights led by trade- and services-linked counters such as IHH Healthcare and Genting Malaysia.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.68 points lower at 1,701.80 from Thursday's close of 1,704.48, after opening two points firmer at 1,706.48.

Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers by 435 to 246 with 337 counters unchanged, 702 untraded and 53 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.08 billion shares worth RM624.05 million.    

Of the trade- and services-related heavyweights, IHH Healthcare fell 14 sen to RM6.01, Genting Malaysia lost 15 sen to RM5.32, Maxis shed six sen to RM6.32 and Axiata was three sen lower at RM4.50. 

Tasek Corp fell 28 sen to RM12.90, F&N dropped 18 sen to RM22.80, Ta Ann slipped 14 sen to RM3.85 and Latitude eased 13 sen to RM5.62.

Of the actives, Kinsteel and Sumatec inched down half-a-sen each to four sen and eight sen, respectively, while Frontken added 15 sen to 23 sen and Dagang Nexchange improved half-a-sen to 41.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index declined 29.52 points to 11,993.05, FBMT100 Index went down 27.53 points to 11,670.13 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 41.71 points to 12,430.19.

The FBM 70 gave up 67.62 points to 13,869.74. The FBM Ace added 41.54 points to 5,349.34.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index trimmed 9.17 points to 3,283.13, the Plantation Index advanced 27.77 points to 8,079.80 and the Finance Index was 37.67 15.35 points higher at 15,086.03. ― Bernama