KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to trade lower at mid-afternoon today, weighed by losses on Petronas-linked counters as US crude oil inventory hit its highest level since July 2017.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.22 points to 1,602.52.

The benchmark index opened 3.8 points lower at 1,599.94.

Losers led gainers 675 to 152, with 270 counters unchanged, 800 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.61 billion worth RM1.3 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals fell 20 sen to RM8.62 and Petronas Gas lost 18 sen to RM16.34.

RHB declined seven sen to RM5.81, IOI eased two sen to RM4.20 and AMMB lost five sen to RM4.34.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Vortex and Barakah lost 2.5 sen each to 28 sen and 4.5 sen respectively, Sapura Energy declined 1.5 sen to 29.5 sen, Lambo slipped half-a-sen to six sen and Dayang fell 22.5 sen to 90.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was down 36.27 points to 11,219.04, the FBMT 100 Index erased 25.17 points to 11,073.45 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 51.21 points to 11,347.92.

The FBM 70 fell 99.37 points to 13,599.06 and the FBM Ace shed 93.66 points to 4,298.55.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 21.49 points to 16,563.76, the Plantation Index lost 33.82 points to 6,848.75 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 2.17 points lower at 161.03. ― Bernama