KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 ― Bursa Malaysia extended losses to mid-morning today on  heavy selling in telecommunications heavyweights, led by Telekom, Axiata and Digi.

A dealer said news that Malaysia's broadband price is expected to fall by at least 25 per cent by year-end pushed down the telecommunications company (telco) -related stocks.

At 11.00am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.38 points to 1,700.37, after opening 0.69 of-a-point higher at 1,710.44 against Wednesday's close of 1,709.75.

Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers 433 to 209, while 286 counters remained unchanged, 990 untraded and 35 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 735.57 million shares worth RM568.82 million.

For the telco-linked heavyweights, Telekom eased 41 sen to RM3.22, Axiata lost 17 sen to RM4.20, Digi slashed 12 sen to RM4.24 and Maxis was 10 sen lower at RM5.47, with the four telcos accounting for 8.53 points to the CI’s decline.

Tenaga fell 10 sen to RM14.16.

Among actives, MyEG rose one sen to RM1.01, GSB added 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Fintec Global inched up half-a-sen to nine sen, while MLab was flat at 5.5 sen and Hubline slid half-a-sen to 7.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index trimmed 58.17 points to 12,028.32, the FBMT100 Index slid 59.90 points to 11,809.11, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 86.49 points to 12,097.47, the FBM70 was 54.82 points lower at 14,651.59 and the FBM Ace Index was down 37.76 points to 5,229.19.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 11.40 points to 16,925.10, the Industrial Index lost 16.28 points to 3,130.10, but the Plantation Index rose 15.47 points to 7,588.12. ― Bernama