KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Bursa Malaysia was quiet at mid-afternoon in tandem with its Asian peers as market participants remained on the sidelines, while turning their attention to the US payrolls data for fresh clues, a dealer said.

At 3.01pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased seven points to 1,844.80 from Thursday’s close of 1,851.80.

The index opened 0.56 of-a-point lower at 1,851.24.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 482 to 272, while 336 counters remained unchanged, 765 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Volume stood at 966.57 million units valued at RM993.18 million.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank lost 14 sen each to RM10.56 and RM23.80, respectively, Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM16.10 and Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM8.48.

For actives, Sapura Energy fell 2.5 sen to 66.5 sen, Borneo Oil was flat at 8.5 sen, while PUC and Sime Darby were half-a-sen and five sen better at 20 sen and RM2.67, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index fell 27.42 points to 12,879.80, the FBMT 100 Index slid 26.33 points to 12,693.42 and the FBM Ace reduced 23.54 points to 5,273.99.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 17.35 points to 13,093.58 and the FBM 70 increased 42.85 points to 15,320.22.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 158.36 points to 17,985.95, the Plantation Index trimmed 17.05 points to 7,903.30, while the Industrial Index added 3.08 points to 3,197.89. — Bernama