KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at mid-afternoon on the back of cautious market sentiment on the appointment of Malaysia’s next prime minister.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.46 of-a-point to 1,523.13, from yesterday’s close of 1,523.59. 

The index opened 1.39 points higher at 1,524.98.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 502 to 384, while 397 counters were unchanged, 917 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.8 billion units worth RM1.43 billion.

Of the heavyweights, IHH Healthcare and CIMB rose one sen each to RM5.79 and RM4.61 respectively, Maybank declined two sen to RM8.12, Public Bank eased one sen to RM3.94, Petronas Chemicals shed four sen to RM7.96 and TNB trimmed 11 sen to RM9.83. 

Among the actives, Sedania Innovator jumped 16 sen to 79 sen, Dataprep surged 18 sen to RM1.27, Avillion edged down half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, Advance Synergy was 3.5 sen lower at 19 sen, Malayan United shed 1.5 sen to nine sen while KNM and Serba Dinamik edged down half-a-sen to 21.5 sen and 41.5 sen, respectively.   

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 3.52 points to 11,124.66, the FBMT 100 Index gained 4.30 points to 10,845.27, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 7.08 points to 12,233.69, the FBM 70 went up 35.35 points to 14,586.44 and the FBM ACE fell 10.02 points to 7,122.12.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 9.40 points to 14,854.27, the Plantation Index advanced 78.07 points for 6,401.50, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.76 of-a-point to 189.99. ― Bernama