KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 ― Bursa Malaysia remained bearish at mid-afternoon on weak sentiment, with the key index falling sharply by 2.04 per cent, weighed down mainly by glove stocks.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI lost 32.81 points to 1,576.38 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,609.19. 

The index opened 0.23 of-a-point easier at 1,608.96.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 841 to 240, while 344 counters were unchanged, 776 untraded and 86 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 5.62 billion shares worth RM2.33 billion.

Glove stocks, Top Glove fell 30 sen to RM4.48, Hartalega slumped 46 sen to RM8.90, and Supermax slipped 17 sen to RM3.78.

Other heavyweights, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM18.80, Maybank declined 13 sen to RM8.27, Public Bank fell seven sen to RM4.21, Petronas Chemicals went down six sen to RM8.04, TNB declined 16 sen to RM10.24, and IHH Healthcare gave up nine sen to RM5.34.

As for the active counters,  Berjaya Corp rose four sen to 43.5 sen, Scomi increased two sen to 7.5 sen, Barakah Offshore was 2.5 sen higher at 11.5 sen, Fintec Global was flat at 6.5 sen, and AT Systematization slid one sen to 9.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 was down 198.6 points to 11,296.44, the FBM Emas Shariah trimmed 241.11 points to 12,848.68, the FBM Emas Index dipped 196.87 points to 11,625.9, the FBM ACE shrank 192.36 points to 10,040.53, and the FBM 70 gave up 131.41 points to 15,470.96.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 191.53 points to 15,267.38, the Plantation Index fell 113.21 points to 7,021.46, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.36 points to 191.17. ― Bernama