KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 ― Bursa Malaysia extended its downtrend to mid-day today, weighed on by persistent selling in selected blue chips, as market participants continued to lock in some of their profits ahead of the weekend following the recent rally.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 8.67 points to 1,678.81 from 1,687.48 at yesterday's close.

The index moved between 1,678.13 and 1,687.60 in the morning session.

Market breadth stayed negative with 264 decliners to 439 advancers, while 376 counters remained unchanged, 768 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.52 billion units worth RM774.40 million. 

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd reiterated that the recent rally was already overdone after the key index made an about eight per cent gain from its year-low a month ago.

"We think the recovery has more-than-reflected corporate Malaysia’s fundamental prospects for the year, which also left it overbought,” it said in a note today.

Of the heavyweights, Axiata and AMMB lost six sen each to RM5.20 and RM4.35 respectively, Maxis and MISC shed five sen each to RM5.65 and RM7.22, and Maybank declined three sen to RM8.95.

KNM maintained its position as the most actively traded counter since the opening, bagging two sen to 32 sen, as Green Packet and Prestariang edged up half-a-sen each to 39 sen and 48.5 sen, Iris ticked up half-a-sen to 15 sen, while Sumatec slid half-a- sen to three sen.

Tenaga continued to be the top loser on the local exchange, easing 56 sen to RM13.58 and its warrant gave up 11 sen to nine sen.

This was followed by Carlsberg, dropping 26 sen to RM25.24, BAT declined 18 sen to RM29.00 and Petronas Dagangan was 10 sen lower at RM25.60.

The FBM 70 shrank 29.25 points to 14,909.15, the FBMT 100 Index lost 51.61 points to 11,725.23, but the FBM Ace advanced 26.06 points to 4,649.12.

The FBM Emas Index shed 49.02 points to 11,889.91 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 69.09 points to 2,265.20.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 11.68 points weaker at 16,770.96 and the Industrial Products & Services Index slipped 0.27 of-a-point to 162.17.

The Plantation Index, however, improved 26.81 points to 6,970.28. ― Bermama