KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red territory at mid-afternoon, on persistent profit-taking in most index-linked counters, dealers said.

At 3.00pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.06 points weaker at 1,694.28 from yesterday’s close of 1,696.34.

The index opened 5.22 points higher at 1,701.56

On the broader market, losers overwhelmed gainers 505 to 228, with 322 counters unchanged, 861 untraded and 69 others were suspended.

Volume stood at 1.49 billion units valued at RM1.16 billion.

A dealer said the downtrend was also in tandem the lower close on Wall Street.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM9.42, Public Bank was flat at RM24.90, Tenaga rose two sen to RM14.20, Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM9.24 and CIMB slid two sen to RM5.83.

IHH Healthcare rose five sen to RM5.55 after Khazanah Nasional Bhd sold a 16 per cent stake in IHH to Mitsui & Co Ltd for RM8.42 billion yesterday.

Of another matter, Genting Malaysia appreciated about 1.7 per cent or four sen to RM2.88 following reports that it filed a legal action on Monday against Walt Disney Co and 21st Century Fox for over US$1 billion for pulling out of a contract for a Twentieth Century Fox World theme park.

Of actives, Bumi Armada fell 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen, Jaks dipped 6.5 sen to 51 sen,while MYEG recovered 12 sen to RM1.17.

Top losers, Nestle dipped RM2.30 to RM144.70 and MPI fell RM1.18 to RM10.00.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 55.29  points to 11,742.11, the FBM 70 shed 104.22 points to 13,627.20 and FBM Ace Index was 20.08 points weaker at 4,783.19.

The FBM Emas Index dipped 35.95 points to 11,695.22 and the FBMT 100 Index slid 31.38 points to 11,572.51.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was down 77.25 points at 6,957.83, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.57 of-a-point easier at 171.06 and the Financial Services Index decreased 14.15 points to 17,453.02. ― Bernama