KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at mid-morning on profit-taking activities and amid news of a rate cut by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

At 11.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,676.43, slipping 6.1 points from 1,682.53 at Friday's close.

The index declined 2.88 points to 1,679.65 at the opening before sliding into negative territory soon after.

Market breadth turned negative, with 483 decliners overtaking 151 advancers, while 333 counters remained unchanged, 1,847 untraded and 20 others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 1.09 billion units worth RM578.91 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said in a note that talk of another rate cut by BNM has again resurfaced.

“We doubt a rate cut would be effective in resuscitating the domestic economy amid a dearth of economic activities,” it said.

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Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB lost two sen each to RM8.95 and RM5.35 respectively, Petronas Chemicals eased four sen to RM8.59 and Public Bank was flat at RM23.00.

Meanwhile, Tenaga rose eight sen to RM13.68.

Of the actives, Ekovest declined 5.5 sen to 81.5 sen, Iskandar Waterfront eased seven sen to RM1.01, Sumatec Resources trimmed half-a-sen to three sen, while KNM Group, PUC Bhd, Sapura Energy were flat at 31.5 sen, nine sen and 30 sen respectively.

The FBM 70 shrank 50.91 points to 14,839.06, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 41.97 points to 11,699.45 and the FBM Ace declined 61.76 points to 4,598.65.

The FBM Emas Index shed 43.21 points to 11,862.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 50.44 points weaker at 12,223.9.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products & Services Index slipped 0.59 of-a-point to 161.93, the Financial Services Index trimmed 26.1 points to 16,772.5 and the Plantation Index declined 11.19 points to 6,965.94. — Bernama