KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 ― Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, dragged down by selling in the index-linked counters led by Hartalega amid mixed regional peers, dealers said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.64 points to 1,572.21 from yesterday's close of 1,572.21.

The key index, which opened 1.47 points weaker at 1,576.38, hovered between 1,572.19 and 1,584.36 throughout the session.

Hartalega dragged down the composite index by 6.538 points after losing 94 sen to RM16.62 with 6.17 million shares changing hands.

However, on the broader market, gainers slightly outnumbered losers 494 to 450, while 387 counters were unchanged, 680 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Trading volume stood at 5.65 billion shares worth RM4.24 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM7.64, while Top Glove and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM26.08 and RM6.15, respectively.

Public Bank lost 16 sen to RM17.50 and Tenaga erased 12 sen to RM11.04.

Among the most actives, XOX and DGB inched up half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen and 6.0 sen, respectively, Vsolar shed half-a-sen to 5.0 sen, Notion slipped one sen to RM1.52, while Borneo Oil was flat at 6.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 34.8 points to 11,261.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 37.66 points to 13,197.42 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 41.38 points to 11,076.64.

The FBM 70 gave up 60.34 points for 14,440.1 and the FBM ACE contracted 90.86 points to 10,347.37.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 29.5 points to 13,147.62, the Plantation Index rose 28.75 points to 7,035.51 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.92 of-a-point to 141.93. ― Bernama