KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at mid-afternoon today, with the key index declining by 0.98 per cent weighed down by banking stocks.

At 3.10pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 15.15 points to 1,527.77 from 1,542.92 at Monday’s close.

CIMB discounted 21 sen to RM5.30, Maybank weakened 10 sen to RM8.31 and Public Bank slipped five sen to RM4.17. These three counters contributed a combined 7.63 points to the decline in the index.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 738 to 240, while 320 counters were unchanged, 950 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.56 billion units worth RM1.64 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM8.98, Tenaga Nasional advanced four sen to RM9.08, IHH Healthcare and Press Metal both fell one sen to RM6.55 and RM5.91 respectively,  

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange appreciated 4.5 sen to 91 sen, Sarawak Consolidated firmed 5.5 sen to 26 sen, AHB Holdings was one sen higher at 14 sen, EA Holdings declined one sen to 1.5 sen, Ageson edged down half-a-sen to four sen and SMTrack gave up 1.5 sen to 22 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM ACE contracted 99.07 points to 6,144.10, the FBM Emas Index erased 134.33 points to 10,967.97, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 131.13 points to 10,675.60, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 112.74 points to 11,665.28, and the FBM 70 lost 276.39 points to 13,510.24. 

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 276.17 points to 15,814.99, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.61 points to 199.33 while the Plantation Index recovered 8.43 points to 6,671.61. ― Bernama