KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 ― Bursa Malaysia remained slightly lower at mid-afternoon, driven by continued profit-taking activities in selected heavyweights amid mixed sentiments in regional bourses, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.95 point to 1,492.61 from yesterday's close of 1,493.56.

The market bellwether had opened 1.03 points weaker at 1,492.53.

Market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 431 to 326, while 398 counters were unchanged, 1,037 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.84 billion units worth RM1.11 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.78, Public Bank and CIMB fell 1.0 sen each to RM4.31 and RM5.75 respectively, Petronas Chemicals declined 7.0 sen to RM8.43 while Tenaga Nasional went down 6.0 sen to RM9.39.

Of the actives, Kumpulan Kitacon and Nationgate rose 9.0 sen each to 77 sen and RM1.14 respectively, DNex improved 2.5 sen to 58.5 sen while Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was down 10.53 points to 10,783.96, the FBMT 100 Index shed 9.61 points to 10,479.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 2.47 points to 11,009.88. The FBM 70 Index reduced 24.80 points to 13,438.29 and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 43.47 points to 5,456.51.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 35.54 points to 16,523.78, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.25 point to 187.18 and the Energy Index fell 2.88 points to 818.01. The Plantation Index added 9.13 points to 6,908.46. ― Bernama