KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Bursa Malaysia sank deeper and struggled to hold above the 1,500-mark at mid-morning as more than two-thirds of the blue-chip stocks suffered from persistent selldown in the absence of fresh leads.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 15.43 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 1,500.95 from Monday’s close of 1,515.38.

The key index gained 2.21 points to 1,518.50 at the opening.

Market breadth turned negative with losers thumbing gainers 681 to 213, while 402 counters were unchanged, 727 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 3.62 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion.

The fall of the heavyweights were led by Top Glove, evaporating 33 sen to RM7.95, Petronas Gas fell 28 sen to RM16.46, Hartalega declined 60 sen to RM13.40, Petronas Chemicals was 13 sen easier at RM5.45, and Public Bank shrank 14 sen to RM15.92.

Of the actives, Fintec slid 1.5 sen to 12 sen, SYF dwindled three sen to 26.5 sen, while Evergreen perked six sen to 32 sen and Nova MSC and XOX were flat at 11 sen and 23 sen, respectively.

Top losers list was dominated by Supermax warrants, while Supermax, also among the top losers, erased 68 sen to RM8.32.

Other top decliners included Kossan, giving up 86 sen to RM12.84, Nestle reduced 80 sen to RM140.20, Greatech trimmed 51 sen to RM6.04 and UWC was 34 sen lower at RM5.69.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index tanked 130.52 points to 10,817.10, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 192.15 points to 12,762.06 and the FBM ACE sank 237.67 points to 10,436.35.

The FBMT 100 Index was 126.92 points lower at 10,626.34 and the FBM 70 dipped 237.07 points to 14,056.22.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 52.10 points to 12,603.19, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.58 points to 135.19 and the Plantation Index shrank 26.43 points to 7,063.11. — Bernama