KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Bursa Malaysia stayed in negative territory at mid-afternoon, as losses in key heavyweights continued to weigh on the local market.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.14  points lower at 1,768.93 from yesterday’s close of 1,770.07, after opening 0.58 of-a-point weaker at 1,769.49.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 483 to 241, with 355 counters unchanged, 779 counters untraded and 85 others suspended.          

Turnover stood at 988.21 billion shares worth RM984.83 million.

Among heavyweights, Genting Malaysia fell 11 sen to RM6.00, Axiata slid seven sen to RM4.62, Genting slipped eight sen to RM9.64, Tenaga was four sen lower at RM14.20 and RHB Bank shed half-a-sen to RM5.04.

However, a dealer said the fall was capped by gains in technology-related stocks, after the announcement of five Malaysian companies being on the list of Forbes 2017 "Best Under A Billion”.

"Four out of the five companies on the list are technology-related firms.Hence, the announcement  boosted investor confidence in tech-linked stocks,” he added.

At 3 pm today, Myeg, which is among the Forbes’ "Best Under A Billion” saw its share price advance four sen to RM2.15, and Vitrox rose seven sen to RM4.53.

Of the actives, MLAB eased one sen to 16 sen, Borneo Oil eased half-a-sen to 10 sen, AHB declined seven sen to 29.5 sen, while AT Systematization and Hubline remained flat at four sen, 10.5 sen and six sen, respectively.

Hengyuan topped the list of gainers by adding 57 sen for RM6.93, while top loser, NHFatt, lost 38 sen to RM3.96.

The FBM Emas Index fell 10.29 points to 12,594.87, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 7.72 points to 12,239.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 17.09 points weaker at 12,728.31.

The FBM 70 eased 8.81 points to 14,961.76 and the FBM Ace declined 31.02 points to 6,640.56.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was down 6.06 points to 3,277.81, but the Plantation Index leapt 4.08 points to 7,839.48, the Finance Index improved 2.02 points to 16,832.81 and the Technology Index was 0.27 of-a-point firmer at 37.48. — Bernama