KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Bursa Malaysia slipped below the 1,440-level at mid-afternoon, as the market experienced a pullback after gaining about five per cent since the beginning of last week.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated 14.93 points, or 1.03 per cent to 1,437.18 from 1,452.11 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 0.74 of-a-point lower at 1,451.37.

Market breadth was negative, with losers overtaking gainers 819 to 219, while 280 counters were unchanged, 589 untraded and 49 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 4.70 billion units worth RM2.75 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the pullback was deemed as healthy to allow traders to digest recent strong gains and reassess the new batch of corporate earnings.

IHH continued to lead the decliners in the heavyweight counters after sliding 26 sen to RM5.44, Petronas Chemicals slipped 25 sen to RM5.92, Maybank and CIMB trimmed eight sen each to RM7.43 and 3.48 respectively while Public Bank was 20 sen lower at RM15.28

Of the most actives, Velesto shrank one sen to 15.5 sen, Bumi Armada slipped 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen, KNM fell two sen to 20 sen, while GD Express rose 4.5 sen to 36.5 sen and Media Prima was half-a-sen firmer at 16 sen.

Top loser BAT lost RM1.78 to RM11.52, Nestle slumped RM1.30 to RM136.20, Kossan and Petron Malaysia shed 30 sen each to RM8.33 and RM4.32 while Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia weakened 28 sen to RM31.40.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 134.29 points to 10,170.81, the FBMT 100 Index eased 125.96 points to 10,023.36 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 140.14 points to 11,611.17.

The FBM ACE declined 137.45 points to 5,371.13 and the FBM 70 dipped 248.35 points to 12,672.72.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 2.90 points to 124.37, the Financial Services Index lost 169.90 points to 12,378.79 and the Plantation Index was 110.76 points lower at 6,716.29. — Bernama