KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia were mixed at mid-morning, with the barometer index remaining above the 1,500 level, anchored mainly by plantation counters.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 3.67 points to 1,503.37 from Tuesday’s close of 1,507.04.

The index opened 0.34 point better at 1,507.238.

However, overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 367 to 354, while 416 counters were unchanged, 794 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 2.22 billion shares worth RM744.46 million.

Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Sime Darby Plantation added six sen to RM4.99 and KLK rose 18 sen to RM22.30, driven by bullish crude palm oil (CPO) prices.

Industry price forecasts range from RM1,800 per tonne to RM2,500 per tonne, versus the investment bank’s price forecast of RM2,300 per tonne, driven by the resumption of the B20 programme and export tax exemption on crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil and processed palm kernel oil from July 1 to December 31, 2020.

Meanwhile, Petronas Dagangan declined 98 sen to RM21.70, while TNB and Maxis were six sen lower each at RM11.82 and RM5.34 respectively.

Of the most active, Trive Property was flat at one sen, while MQ Technology and AT Systematization went down 1.5 sen each to five sen and 9.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 11.41 points to 10,580.16, the FBMT 100 Index depreciated 13.60 points to 10,428.23 while the FBM 70 advanced 30.41 points to 12,952.79.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 8.68 points lower at 12,016.31, and the FBM ACE slid 64.49 points to 6,218.15.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.02 point to 136.97, the Financial Services Index depreciated 7.78 points to 12,864.74, while the Plantation Index gained 30.02 points to 6,764.56. — Bernama