KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red at mid-afternoon despite a recovery in the regional bourses, as selling pressure persisted mainly in industrial products and services as well as financial services stocks.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 4.66 points to 1,382.11 from 1,386.77 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 0.92 of a point firmer at 1,387.69 before finishing the morning trading session lower.

The broader market was also negative as decliners led gainers 406 to 359, while 435 counters were unchanged, 1,044 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.96 billion units worth RM1.08 billion.

Among other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals fell 15 sen to RM6.50, Public Bank and CIMB dropped four sen each at RM3.81 and RM4.98, respectively, IHH Healthcare decreased six sen to RM5.76, and PPB went down 24 sen to RM15.98.

Of the active counters, Sarawak Consolidated added four sen to 36.5 sen, KNM ticked up half-a-sen to eight sen, Bumi Armada rose 2.5 sen to 44.5 sen, Kumpulan Jetson gave up nine sen to 33.5 sen, and Widad was flat at 42 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index increased 41.63 points to 5,118.26, the FBMT 100 Index slid 14.29 points to 9,900.25, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 4.36 points to 10,556.97, the FBM 70 Index perked 59.40 points to 13,534.47, and the FBM Emas Index trimmed 13.17 points to 10,203.95.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.76 of a point to 159.05, the Plantation Index shrank 14.92 points to 6,742.72, and the Financial Services Index erased 23.17 points to 15,196.25, but the Energy Index strengthened 3.16 points to 781.03. ― Bernama