KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 ― Bucking the regional trend, Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-afternoon with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) easing 1.39 points to 1,591.54.

The index opened 0.57 of-a-point higher at 1,593.5 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,593.5.

Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers 392 to 279, with 420 counters unchanged, 894 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.31 billion shares worth RM829.10 million.

Among the heavyweights, Maxis increased six sen to RM5.61, Axiata gained three sen to RM4.32, while Public Bank, TNB and CIMB were flat at RM20.14, RM13.64 and RM5.04, respectively.

Maybank fell seven sen to RM8.65, Petronas Chemicals reduced 11 sen to RM7.43 and IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM5.67.

As for the actives, Sapura Energy and MNC Wireless inched up half-a-sen to 29 sen and 12 sen, respectively, while Vsolar was flat at nine sen, Eduspec shed one sen to 4.5 sen and Bumi Armada edged down half-a-sen to 33.5 sen.

 The FBM Emas Index declined 6.17 points to 11,246.25, the FBMT 100 Index depreciated 6.67 points to 11,079.16 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 3.54 points to 11,777.35.

The FBM 70 went up 3.89 points to 13,936.44 and the FBM Ace skidded 19.02 points to 4,553.26.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened by 14.88 points to 6,737.33, the Financial Services Index slipped 27.67 points to 15,425.74, and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.48 of-a-point lower at 152.77. ― Bernama