KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at mid-afternoon on the back of selling in index-linked counters amid softer regional peers, but the composite index managed to stay just a whisker above the 1,600-level.
At 3.06pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.48 points to 1,600.88 from 1,604.36 at close yesterday.
The overall market breadth was sour with losers leading gainers 407 to 320, while 400 counters were unchanged, 872 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.6 billion shares worth RM854.11 million.
A dealer said sentiment in the equity market was weighed down by the developments in the US-China trade talks after a report said Beijing was pessimistic about the outlook.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM8.64, Tenaga lost four sen to RM13.66, CIMB shed one sen to RM5.34 and IHH erased 12 sen to RM5.44.
Public Bank rose eight sen to RM19.96, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.36.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy and Bumi Armada were flat at 30 sen and 52.5 sen respectively, Trive inched down half-a-sen to one sen, while Tiger Synergy bagged 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 26.18 points weaker at 11,344.65, the FBMT 100 Index shed 27.96 points to 11,154.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 36.26 points to 11,872.08, and the FBM 70 fell 50.76 points to 14,074.55.
However, the FBM Ace rose 25.11 points to 4,962.74.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 12.73 points to 15,633.13, the Plantation Index trimmed 3.43 points to 6,955.1, and the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.28 of-a-point to 152.85. — Bernama
