KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia turned slightly lower at mid-morning in range bound trading, mainly dragged down by losses in Petronas-related blue chips. 

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated to 1,758.98, down 0.18 of-a-point from last Friday’s close of 1,759.16.

The index opened 2.19 points higher at 1,761.35 at 9 am.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 344 to 246, while 322 counters were unchanged, 915 untraded and 24 others suspended.     

Turnover stood at 680 million shares worth RM319.43 million.

As Petronas-linked indices led the fall of the heavyweights,  Petronas Chemicals fell six sen to RM6.91 and Petronas Gas lost eight sen to RM18.74, with both counters contributing 1.088 points  to the FBM KLCI’s decline. 

A dealer said a joint meeting among the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members to be held later in the day to discuss the rising output issue in Nigeria and Libya, caused investors to turn cautious on oil and gas-related stocks. 

PPB Group slid 10 sen to RM16.70, YTL and Axiata were each one sen lower at RM1.41 and RM4.71 respectively, while Petronas Dagangan remained flat at RM23.72.

Of actives, SC Estate Builder and Hubline each inched up half-a-sen to 35 sen and 60 sen, Borneo Oil remained flat at 10.5 sen, while L&G and MLAB slid half-a-sen to 23 sen and 19.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 6.71 points lower at 12,533.30,  the FBMT 100 Index shed 6.34 points to 12,173.34 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 13.43 points to 12,706.46.

The FBM 70 fell 26.90 points to 14,888.98 and the FBM Ace gave up 6.83 points to 6,748.65.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was down 28.29 points to 7,843.06, the Industrial Index eased 4.62 points to 3,270.52 and the Finance Index was 9.42 points lower at 16,661.72. — Bernama