KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — Bursa Malaysia resumed the afternoon session easier, dragged by selling in index-linked counters ahead of the long weekend.

As at 3.05 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 7.24 points to 1,640.26.

The market will be closed tomorrow for Christmas.

The overall market breadth skewed towards negative with losers outnumbering gainers 589 to 450, while 814 counters were unchanged, 295 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Volume stood at 4.78 billion units worth RM1.97 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank eased four sen each to RM8.45 and RM20.56 respectively, Tenaga slipped two sen to RM10.66, Petronas Chemicals lost eight sen to RM7.50, Top Glove shed five sen to RM6.51, and Hartalega dipped 18 sen to RM12.54.

However, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.66.

Among the actives, AT Systematization and Iris rose three sen each to 19.5 sen and 41 sen respectively, M&G rose 11 sen to 18.5 sen while Fintec was flat at 9.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 39.40 points lower at 11,797.44, the FBMT 100 Index erased 43.33 points to 11,557.47, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 43.68 points to 13,263.81, and the FBM 70 decreased 26.52 points to 15,072.92,

However, the FBM ACE chalked up 77.63 points to 10,731.18.

The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.08 of-a-point to 175.55, the Plantation Index put on 55.14 points to 7,422.63 but the Financial Services Index fell 19.88 points to 15,271.76. — Bernama