KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Bursa Malaysia turned negative at mid-morning today on selling pressure in glove and Petronas-linked heavyweights and amid sliding crude oil prices.
At 11.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.85 points to 1,660.81 from Wednesday’s close of 1,663.66.
The index opened 5.92 points firmer at 1,669.58.
Market breadth was negative with decliners thumping advancers 343 to 244, 353 counters unchanged, 972 untraded and 42 others suspended.
Turnover was at 1.06 billion shares worth RM646.76 million.
At 11.37am, the benchmark Brent crude fell 0.27 per cent to US$ 67.49 per barrel.
Of the heavyweights, glove manufacturer Hartalega suffered the biggest loss in easing 10 sen or 2.12 per cent to RM4.61, followed by Petronas Gas which slipped 14 sen to RM17.56, Maybank which lost seven sen to RM9.33 and Petronas Dagangan sliding 16 sen to RM24.84.Top Glove was two sen lower at RM4.44.
Petronas Dangangan, Petronas Gas and Hartalega were also among the top three losers on the local bourse.
Among the most actives, Berjaya Corp slid one sen to 25.5 sen, Dynaciate edged down half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, Dayang Enterprise retreated seven sen to RM1.32, while MyEG rose six sen to RM1.36 with Vsolar 1.5 sen better at 24.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index shed 18.17 points to 11,636.34, the FBMT 100 Index lost 18.90 points to 11,489.22 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 19.36 points lower at 11,690.44.
The FBM 70 trimmed 20.09 points to 14,162.75 and the FBM Ace Index contracted 16.45 points to 4,762.88.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 26.14 points to 17,193.37 and the Plantation Index was 29.31 points weaker at 7,179.43. But the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.05 of-a-point to 178.77. — Bernama
