KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red across the board mid-afternoon on vigorous selling activity, prompted by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement this afternoon that several on-going mega projects will be halted with immediate effect.

At 3.03pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 53.8 points weaker or 3.03 per cent at 1,722.04.

The index opened 16.28 points easier at 1,759.56 from Monday’s close of 1,775.84.

Bursa Malaysia was closed yesterday for a local public holiday.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 977 to 107 with 249 counters unchanged, 601 untraded and 54 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.34 billion shares worth RM2.39 billion.

The prime minister said among the mega-projects which will be halted are the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) and Mass Rapid Transit 3 (MRT3), while the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) would be reviewed. 

Meanwhile, a dealer said Bursa Malaysia was also swayed by the losses endured by regional bourses, with China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange dipping 2.47 per cent to 3,043.4, Japan’s Nikkei erased 1.52 per cent to 22,018.52 and Singapore’s Straits Times decreased 1.79 per cent to 3,455.41.

In a note today, Kenanga Research said: "Overall, the technical outlook for the FBMKLCI appears outright bearish following Monday’s close which saw the index breaking below the 1,780 points level.

"We expect lower support level at 1,750 and 1,700 and would advocate a buy on dips,” said the research firm, adding that immediate resistance can be found at 1,780 and 1,800 level.

On a different development, Gamuda Bhd, George Kent (M) Bhd and HSS Engineers Bhd’s proprietary day trading (PDT) and Intraday Short-Selling (IDSS) activities have been suspended and will be enabled the following trading day.

"The last done price of the approved securities dropped more than 15 sen or 15 per cent from the reference price,” said Bursa Malaysia in a special announcement on its website today.

Meanwhile, among the heavyweights, Maybank declined 45 sen to RM9.55, Public Bank decreased 56 sen to RM24.34, TNB eased 66 sen to RM14.12, Petronas Chemicals fell 31 sen to RM8.00 and CIMB was 22 sen lower at RM5.84.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy declined 5.5 sen to 57 sen while Borneo Oil and Nexgram was half-a-sen easier at 7.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively.

YTL Corporation trimmed eight sen to 94 sen while MyEG was flat at 76 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 412.75 points to 12,005.54, FBMT 100 Index eased 404.49 points to 11,820.63 and FBM 70 Index decreased 605.8 points to 11,820.63.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 435.9 points lower at 12,009.06 and the FBM Ace fell 180.64 points to 4,952.3.   

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index fell 512.84 points to 17,223.26, Industrial Index was 104.03 points weaker at 3,050.93 and the Plantation Index shed 72.66 points to 7,771.1. — Bernama