KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at mid-afternoon on a lack of positive catalysts amid mixed sentiment in regional bourses.

At 3.20pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.62 points to 1,414.38 from 1,419.00 at yesterday’s close.

The barometer index opened 0.68 of a point weaker at 1,418.32 this morning.

Market breadth remained negative with losers trouncing gainers 511 to 251, while 389 counters were unchanged, 1,108 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.76 billion units worth RM985.54 million.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose 5.0 sen to RM8.63, Public Bank shed 4.0 sen to RM3.91, Petronas Chemicals declined 3.0 sen to RM6.93, Tenaga Nasional eased 4.0 sen to RM9.56, and CIMB Group narrowed 1.0 sen to RM5.04.

Among the actives, Revenue Group went down 1.5 sen to 28.5 sen, TWL Holdings shaved half-a-sen to 4.0 sen, Bahvest Resources edged up 1.0 sen to 16.5 sen, Tanco put on 2.0 sen to 54.0 sen, and Ta Win was flat at 4.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 32.20 points to 10,383.67, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 31.19 points to 10,083.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 31.79 points to 10,757.37.

The FBM ACE Index was 43.22 points lower at 4,912.31 and the FBM 70 Index lost 34.58 points to 13,586.11.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.27 of a point to 164.81, the Plantation Index gave up 24.43 points to 7,003.86, the Financial Services Index shrank 68.01 points to 15,420.62, and the Energy Index slid 4.14 points to 837.79. ― Bernama