KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to stay in negative territory at mid-afternoon on persistent selling in selected heavyweights.

A dealer said institutional players remained indecisive on their moves due to lack of market catalysts.

"However, the local bourse was still supported by retail investors in the lower liner and small-cap stocks,” he said.

At 3.06pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.96 points to 1,567.19 from last Friday’s close of 1,571.15.

The benchmark index opened 2.37 points weaker at 1,568.78.

Market breadth was negative, with losers trouncing gainers 428 to 358, while 323 counters were unchanged, 908 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.73 billion shares worth RM839.19 million.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index went up 0.92 per cent to 3,142.83, Japan’s Nikkei strengthened 0.25 per cent to 22,548.90 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 0.08 per cent to 26,741.25.

Among heavyweights, CIMB and Sime Darby Plantation declined five sen each to RM4.95 and RM4.76 respectively, Hong Leong Bank retreated 18 sen to RM16.82, Genting dropped seven sen to RM5.63 and IHH was three sen weaker at RM5.64.

Of the most active, NetX slipped half-a-sen to two sen, Bumi Armada gained three sen to 47.5 sen, MTAG was 2.5 sen better at 53.5 sen, PUC edged up half-a-sen to six sen while Sanichi was unchanged at five sen.

F&N emerged as the top loser, erasing 90 sen to RM34.30, while Nestle lost 80 sen to RM143.40, Aeon Credit gave up 42 sen to RM15.98, Scientex was 31 sen weaker at RM9.19 and Takaful fell 12 sen to RM6.17.

The FBM 70 declined 11.81 points to 14,109.95, the FBMT 100 Index was 23.30 points easier at 10,981.50 but the FBM Ace rose 73.30 points to 4,856.54.

The FBM Emas Index shed 20.42 points to 11,169.32 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 15.59 points to 11,785.64.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 61.50 points to 15,213.13, the Plantation Index edged down 10.47 points to 6,614.26 and the Industrial Products & Services Index eased 0.04 point to 152.52. — Bernama