KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red at mid-morning, dragged by selling pressure across-the-board in tandem with the downtrend in regional stock markets.
A dealer said market environment was generally tepid amid Brexit deadlock and the weaker overnight performance of Wall Street.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 7.90 points to 1,566.19 from yesterday's close of 1,574.09.
The key index opened 2.43 points lower at 1,571.66.
Market breadth turned negative with losers outnumbered gainers 306 to 256, while 369 counters unchanged, 1,086 untraded and 35 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.05 billion shares worth RM557.35 million.
Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.75 per cent to 3,136.92, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 1.03 per cent weaker at 26,511.62 and Japan's Nikkei retreated 0.04 per cent to 22,540.56.
Among heavyweights, Maybank declined three sen to RM8.57, Tenaga lost 10 sen to RM13.70, Public Bank weakened 16 sen to RM19.14, Petronas Chemicals was six sen lower at RM7.36 while IHH was unchanged at RM5.69.
Of the actives, Bumi Armada perked three sen to 43 sen, Green Packet warrant ticked up one sen to 33 sen, Sapura Energy was half-a-sen better at 26.5 sen, IFCA MSC added one sen to 44.5 sen while Ekovest was 1.5 sen easier at 78.5 sen.
Nestle emerged as the top loser, erasing 50 sen to RM143.80, followed by Hong Leong Financial which slipped 34 sen to RM16.68, BAT shed 30 sen to RM19.44, Carlsberg was 18 sen weaker at RM26.58, MAHB reduced 17 sen to RM8.02.
The FBM 70 trimmed 26.97 points to 14,066.45, the FBMT 100 Index declined 47.17 points to 10,968.06 but the FBM Ace advanced 9.41 points to 4,854.30.
The FBM Emas Index dropped 45.31 points to 11,157.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 40.39 points easier at 11,788.44.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 88.18 points to 15,161.20, the Industrial Products & Services Index slid 0.57 of a point to 152.47 and the Plantation Index lost 42.43 points to 6,581.27. ― Bernama
