KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at lunch break as it continued to be dragged down by Petronas-related counters due to uncertainty over its operations in Iraq. 

At 12.30am, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 3.75 points to 1,591.90 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,595.62.

An analyst said until tensions between the United States and Iran come to an end, investors’ concern over Petronas’s operations in the Middle Eastern country would remain. 

"To date, Petronas has yet to announce any plans for its operations, but we believe with tensions between Teheran and Washington has somewhat simmered down, the downtrend would not be long,” she said. 

 At present, there are 163 Malaysian citizens in Iraq, made up of mostly Petronas’ staff as well as lecturers while 73 people have registered with Malawakil (Office of the Malaysian Delegation) in Teheran.

Wisma Putra had issued a travel advisory and hoped Malaysians in Iran and Iraq as well as others who are planning to travel there to take safety precautions.

Petronas-linked counters, Petronas Gas slid four sen to RM16.96, Petronas Chemicals declined six sen to RM7.25, while Petronas Dagangan slipped 16 sen to RM22.60. 

Other heavyweights; Tenaga Nasional declined six sen to RM12.98 while Sime Darby Plantation shrunk five sen to RM5.40, 

Of the actives, DGB was one sen higher at 15 sen, Sapura Energy was half a sen higher to 28.5, while Mudajaya rose 5.5 sen to 45 sen, while for top gainers, Malaysian Pacific added 44 sen to RM12.22, KESM increased 47 sen RM9.83 while United Plantation gained 60 sen to RM26.70. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 21.79 points to 11,340.12 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 36.31 points lower at 11,953.32. 

The FBMT 100 Index lost 22.34 points to 11,135.36, the FBM 70 slipped 12.63 points to 14,228.74 while the FBM Ace expanded 5.20 points to 5,505.87.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined slightly by 0.51 point to 153.35, while the Financial Services Index upticked 3.40 points to 15,563.24 and the Plantation Index contracted 23.89 points to 7,662.40. — Bernama