KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to stay in negative territory and consolidation mode at mid-afternoon after the recent uptrend, said an analyst.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) underwent minor consolidation yesterday as profit-taking activities emerged amid a dampened market undertone after a three-day climb.

At 3pm, the FBM KLCI fell 4.69 points to 1,540.27 from yesterday’s close of 1,544.96.

The benchmark index opened 0.10 points firmer at 1,545.06.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 478 to 445, while 464 counters were unchanged, 907 untraded and 11 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.68 billion units worth RM1.50 billion.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank slipped six sen to RM9.59, Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.25, CIMB declined 12 sen to RM6.49, Petronas Chemicals was up by six sen to RM6.87 and Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM11.50.

Among the actives, TWL, MMAG and Velesto Energy firmed half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, 15.5 sen and 29.5 sen, respectively.

Hong Seng was flat at one sen, and Mlabs Systems eased half-a-sen to one sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 9.55 points to 11,509, the FBM ACE Index reduced 8.11 points to 4,742.98, and the FBMT 100 Index was 12.73 points lower to 11,165.54.

Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 46.20 points to 11,583.46, and the FBM 70 Index increased by 69.56 points to 15,819.93.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was up 35.80 points to 7,314.56, the Energy Index rose 18.60 points to 944.01, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.18 of-a-point to 177.53.

However, the Financial Services Index dipped 124.32 points to 17,157.06. ― Bernama