KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gave up earlier gains and turned easier at mid-morning, with selling mostly in the index-linked counters led by Petronas Chemicals.

At 11.02am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 6.67 points to 1,676.55 from Friday’s close of 1,683.22.

Losses in Petronas Chemicals dragged the composite index down by 4.633 points. The oil and gas stock fell 33 sen to RM8.37 with 2.13 million shares transacted.

A dealer said worries over the ongoing US government shutdown, the gloomy prospects for US interest rate hikes, coupled with heightened concerns over Chinese trade data weighed on market sentiment globally.

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“China is set to announce its import and export figures, which could provide an insight into the country’s economy progress.

“Recent (Chinese) economic data showed not so-good figures. So, any new data to be released will be closely watched by investors,” he added.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 367 to 242, while 281 counters were unchanged, 1,862 untraded and 32 others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 981.61 million shares worth RM376.69 million.

For heavyweights, Maybank eased six sen to RM9.39, Public Bank lost 10 sen to RM24.66, Tenaga slipped two sen to RM13.84, while CIMB and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM5.65 and RM5.73 respectively.

Of actives, Sapura Energy and Hubline added half-a-sen each to 31.5 sen and six sen respectively, while Bumi Armada slid half-a-sen to 16 sen and Tatt Giap dropped one sen to 17 sen.

Perisai Petroleum, whose shares will be suspended from trading effective Jan 22 following the rejection of its proposed regularisation plan by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd, was the most actively traded stock after trimming 2.5 sen to five sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 48.74 points lower at 11,569.29, the FBMT 100 Index went down 46.10 points to 11,455.11 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 65.88 points to 11,501.59.   

The FBM Ace Index slipped 0.64 of a point to 4,457.46 and the FBM 70 contracted 56.68 points to 13,534.70.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 51.41 points for 17,364.22, the Plantation Index shed 6.73 points to 7,110.91 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.37 points to 162.50. — Bernama