KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 ― Bursa Malaysia’s barometer index remained lower at mid-afternoon but managed to reduce its earlier losses, thanks to gains by CelcomDigi and Petronas Chemicals.

Mild recovery can also be seen in technology, healthcare, industrial products and services.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.70 points to 1,381.31 from 1,383.01 at yesterday's close.

The key index, which opened 2.81 points higher at 1,385.82, finished the morning session in negative territory at 1,378.06, down 4.95 points.

The broader market was, nonetheless, positive with gainers outpacing losers 420 to 376, while 405 counters were unchanged, 1,055 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Turnover stood at RM2.45 billion worth RM1.13 billion.

Among the heavyweights, CelcomDigi added seven sen to RM4.45, Petronas Chemicals rose 10 sen to RM6.59, Press Metal perked eight sen to RM4.78, Petronas Dagangan increased 48 sen to RM21.58, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong put on 42 sen to RM21.44.

Among the actives, KNM Group gained two sen to 8.5 sen, MyEG edged up one sen to 85 sen, Borneo Oil lost half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange ticked up 4.5 sen to 49.5 sen, and Vsolar rose 7.5 sen to 31.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 0.12 of a point to 10,203.11, the FBMT 100 Index grew 3.01 points to 9,913.09, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 29.12 points to 10,582.47, the FBM ACE Index climbed 49.30 points to 4,999.05, and FBM 70 Index advanced 46.29 points to 13,608.10.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index narrowed 99.46 points to 15,093.83, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.27 points to 160.05, the Energy Index strengthened 3.97 points to 810.65, and the Plantation Index widened 44.55 points to 6,651.34. ― Bernama