Bursa Malaysia Remains In Negative Territory At Mid-Afternoon

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 -- Bursa Malaysia (Malaysia stock exchange) remained in negative territory at mid-afternoon today, dampened by the across-the-board selling following bearish regional sentiment, dealers said. At 3 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,687.66, down 3.72 points against Thursday's close of 1,691.38. It opened 0.26 points lower at 1,691.12. Decliners led advancers by 383 to 285, while 364 counters were unchanged, 638 untraded and 20 others suspended. Turnover stood at 866.16 billion shares worth US$ 172.34 million (RM702.09 million). A dealer said Asian stocks extended their losses on disappointment about the European Central Bank's decision to keep policy unchanged plus increasing geopolitical tensions after North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test Friday. Among heavyweights, TNB fell 14 sen to RM14.42, Maybank eased one sen to RM7.94, Public Bank declined eight sen to RM19.80 and IHH shed two sen to RM6.63. Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.69. Of the most actively-traded stocks, Dagang Nexchange warrants added half-a-sen to nine sen and Dagang Nexchange rose one sen to 28.5 sen. Xidelang and Connectcounty Holdings were flat at three sen and 2.5 sen respectively. The FBM Emas Index fell 25.36 points to 11,864.70, FBMT100 Index declined 25.54 points to 11,567.23 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 17.43 points to 12,501.99. The FBM 70 went down 30.36 points to 13,716.20 and the FBM Ace fell 25.49 points to 5,283.59. On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index added 8.33 points to 7,892.16 and the Industrial Index was 0.56 of a point higher at 3,156.60. The Finance Index dropped 49.89 points to 14,514.32. (US$1 = RM4.06) --BERNAMA