Bursa Malaysia Remains Lower At Mid-Morning

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 -- Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-morning today as weak global sentiment continued influencing investors' interest, dealers said. At 11 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,667.04, down 1.68 points against Tuesday's close of 1,668.72. A dealer said interest on global bourses retreated on growing concern over the prospect of a US interest-rate hike. Losers led gainers 318 to 210, while 355 counters were unchanged, 774 untraded and 17 others suspended. Turnover stood at 581.15 million shares worth US$100.23 million (RM419.4 million). For the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank eased four sen each to RM7.66 and RM19.74, as IHH Healthcare slipped three sen to RM6.52. However, Petronas Chemicals gained four sen to RM6.82, while TNB was flat at RM14.38. Among actives, Hibiscus Petroleum improved 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen, but Asia Media Group shed one sen to 22.5 sen. The FBM Emas Index trimmed 13.53 points to 11,775.16, the FBM Ace slipped 2.05 points to 5,186.18, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 12.01 points to 12,440.54. The FBMT100 Index fell 12.38 points to 11,476.15 and the FBM 70 lost 17.98 points to 13,790.51. On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index gave up 21.91 points for 14,272.41, with the Industrial Index declining 7.15 points to 3,128.9, and the Plantation Index sliding 14.68 points to 7,914.48. -- BERNAMA