KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Bursa Malaysia continued its downtrend at mid-afternoon due to profit-taking activities ahead of the long Hari Raya Aidiladha holiday which begins tomorrow.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 17.12 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 1,594.30 from 1,611.42 at yesterday's close.

The key index opened 2.60 points higher at 1,614.02 at 9am.

Market breadth remained negative with losers outnumbered gainers 645 to 354, while 415 counters were unchanged, 583 untraded and 64 others suspended.

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Trading volume stood at 8.70 billion shares worth RM3.82 billion.

More than two-thirds of the 30 constituents of the FBM KLCI were in the red, led by Petronas Chemicals which shed 21 sen to RM6.07, Public Bank lost 42 sen to RM17.12, Maybank gave up 13 sen to RM7.62, IHH was nine sen easier at RM5.39, and CIMB decreased six sen to RM3.54.

Of the most actives, Lambo, Pegasus and Pegasus warrant gained half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen, 2.5 sen and 1.5 sen respectively, Priceworth was flat at three sen and XOX was one sen lower at 24.5 sen.

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Top loser Nestle gave up RM1.70 to RM140.30 while top gainer MPI was 66 sen higher at RM13.36.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced 96.35 points to 11,372.95, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 86.54 points lower at 13,378.81 and the FBMT 100 Index shrank 96.84 points to 11,211.14.

The FBM 70 trimmed 32.89 points to 14,532.44 and the FBM ACE was 21.10 points weaker at 8,502.77.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 200.16 points to 13,136.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 2.71 points to 139.71 and the Plantation Index contracted 30.85 points to 7,109.56. — Bernama