KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — Bursa Malaysia was lower at mid-morning with energy and banking stocks as well as lower liners being the top drags.

At 11.08am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) fell 5.04 points to 1,618.92 versus Tuesday’s close of 1,623.96.

The index opened 1.65 points higher at 1,625.61.

On the broader market, gainers marginally led losers 481 to 448, while 411 counters were unchanged, 897 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume stood at 6.44 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion.

Of the heavyweights, the top losers included Public Bank which declined six sen to RM4.25, Maybank which lost four sen to RM8.41 and CIMB which slipped two sen to RM4.50.

Axiata erased seven sen to RM3.78 and Dialog went down four sen to RM3.21.

Hartalega dropped 13 sen to RM9.62 and Sime Darby was five sen lower at RM2.43.

In contrast, TM gained 25 sen to RM6.41 and MISC rose seven sen to RM6.96.

Among the actives, Pegasus was flat at three sen, while Borneo Oil increased one sen to 4.5 sen and Scomi was half-a-sen firmer at 11.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 19.14 points to 11,882.53, the FBMT 100 was 24.63 points weaker at 11,559.62, and the FBM Emas Shariah eased 3.99 points to 13,175.98.

The FBM 70 expanded 10.49 points to 15,671.04 and the FBM ACE slipped 90.66 points to 10,656.39.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 73.07 points to 15,529.90, the Plantation Index inched up 4.55 points to 7,234.82, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.06 of-a-point to 192.05. — Bernama