KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― Bursa Malaysia turned lower at mid-morning today despite opening on a positive note, dragged down by selling in heavyweight stocks, led by the plantation and financial services counters.

At 11.00am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.12 points easier at 1,528.21 from Wednesday's close of 1,531.33. It opened 4.44 points higher at 1,543.15.

The market was closed yesterday for Deepavali.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 470 to 349, while 424 counters were unchanged, 1,048 untraded and 31 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.38 billion units worth RM841.52 million.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare shed one sen each to RM4.03 and RM6.51, respectively, Petronas Chemicals reduced two sen to RM8.21, while Maybank and Tenaga were flat at RM8.00 and RM9.58, respectively.

Of the actives, NWP Holdings perked three sen to 33 sen, KNM bagged one sen to 20.5 sen, ARB slipped eight sen to 19 sen, while Dagang Nexchange and VS Industry warrant eased half-a-sen each to 78 sen and 43.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 15.80 points to 11,342.71, the FBMT 100 Index declined 15.63 points to 10,969.10, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 6.6 points to 12,392.99, the FBM ACE contracted 5.51 points to 7,068.45, while the FBM 70 edged up 4.73 points to 15,095.94.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.41 of-a-point to 202.64, the Plantation Index gave up 63.76 points to 6,724.74, and the Financial Services Index lost 47.63 points to 15,139.46. ― Bernama