KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Bursa Malaysia saw losses widen at mid-afternoon with more than 800 counters in the red, led by energy and technology sector.

At 3.10pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 7.48 points to 1,620.51, with declines mainly in energy and technology counters.

The index opened 3.05 points higher at 1,631.04, its intraday high, from yesterday’s close of 1,627.99, and slid to an intraday low of 1619.62 in the mid-afternoon session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 835 to 266, while 387 counters were unchanged, 759 untraded and 55 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 6.46 billion shares worth RM2.95 billion. 

Among heavyweights, MISC was 15 sen lower at RM6.82, Press Metal lost 16 sen to RM10 and Public Bank declined three sen to RM4.25.

CIMB dropped four sen to RM4.51 and Hap Seng Consolidated was 12 sen weaker at RM8.16.

As for the active counters, Macpie surged 26 sen to 55.5 sen, Widad slipped 3.5 sen to 60 sen, and Cuscapi rose five sen to 31 sen.

Dagang NeXchange inched down one sen to 95 sen and Hiap Teck was flat at 50 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 66.76 points to 11,884.35, the FBMT 100 eased 62.14 points to 11,563.46, and the FBM Emas Shariah dipped 65.79 points to 13,172.35.

The FBM 70 reduced 118.08 points to 15,647.14 and the FBM ACE improved 60.97 points to 10,698.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 50.36 points to 15,517.56, the Plantation Index shed 8.45 points to 7,151.34 and the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 1.18 points to 192.79. — Bernama