KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed marginally lower at mid-afternoon due to the absence of buying catalysts amid a mixed regional market performance, a dealer said.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) weakened 0.14 points to 1,457.27 from yesterday’s close of 1,457.41.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.16 points better at 1,457.57

On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 454 to 359 while 450 counters were unchanged, 997 untraded and 45 others suspended.

Turnover stood at three billion units worth RM1.74 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.91 while CIMB added two sen to RM5.86 and Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM7.24.

Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.27 and TNB lost six sen to RM10.06.

Of the actives, Pelikan shed 3.5 sen to 30 sen and Minetech fell half-a-sen to 14.5 sen while Green Ocean rose 10 sen to 22.5 sen and Dataprep went up two sen to 17.5 sen.

Hong Seng was unchanged at 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 1.80 points to 11,021.93, the FBM Emas Index contracted 0.17 points to 10,843.45 and the FBM 70 Index slipped 14.33 points to 14,641.47 while the FBM ACE Index widened 7.92 points to 5,279.67, and the FBMT 100 Index increased 1.89 points to 10,504.97.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index declined 1.72 points to 7,015.59, the Energy Index edged down 1.07 points to 818.90, the Financial Services Index dropped 1.42 points to 16,296.10 and the Property Index was 5.22 points lower at 858.94 but the Industrial Products and Services Index higher 0.72 of-a-point to 173.59. ― Bernama