KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-afternoon as sell-offs persisted in Asian stock markets, but managed to stay above the crucial 1,500 level.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 5.00 points to 1,502.04 from yesterday’s close of 1,507.04.

The index opened 0.34 of-a-point better at 1,507.38.

Losers outpaced gainers at 467 to 398, while 428 counters were unchanged, 638 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.4 billion shares worth RM1.4 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Dagangan was 94 sen lower at RM21.74 and Maxis went down six sen to RM5.34.

IHH dropped five sen to RM5.38 and TNB depreciated 14 sen to RM11.74.

However, plantation heavyweights remained on the uptrend, with Sime Darby Plantation adding six sen to RM4.99 and KLK rising 24 sen to RM22.36, driven by bullish crude palm oil price prospects.

Of the most active, Trive Property was flat at one sen, while MQ Technology dropped 1.5 sen to five sen and Netx was half a sen lower at one sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 19.16 points to 10,572.41, the FBMT 100 Index depreciated 21.44 points to 10,420.39, while the FBM 70 advanced 26.26 points to 12,948.64.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 23.23 points easier at 12,001.76 and the FBM ACE slashed 70.65 points to 6,211.99.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.64 point to 135.45, the Financial Services Index improved 2.04 points to 12,874.56, while the Plantation Index gained 39.20 points to 6,773.74. — Bernama