KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — Bursa Malaysia continued to stay in the negative zone at mid-afternoon, as the key index was weighed down by persistent selling in rubber glove counters following the arrival of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia on Sunday.

At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated 6.69 points, or 0.42 per cent to 1,578.24 from 1,584.93 at last Friday’s close.

The key index opened 2.58 points higher at 1,587.51.

Market breadth turned negative, with losers leading gainers 631 to 552, while 417 counters were unchanged, 596 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume was 9.63 billion units worth RM3.72 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Top Glove shrank 23 sen to RM5.82, Hartalega erased 36 sen to RM11.70 while Supermax was 26 sen easier at RM5.54.

However, losses in the 30 FBM KLCI constituents were capped by gains in telecommunications counters following the launch of MyDigital initiative and the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint last week.

Axiata led the gainers list among the heavyweights, accumulating nine sen to RM3.46, Digi perked four sen to RM3.78, Telekom added six sen to RM6.54 and Maxis was one sen better at RM4.76.

Among the actives, Key Alliance gained half-a-sen to six sen, Nexgram advanced 1.5 sen to 5.5 sen, AT Systematization bagged two sen to 16 sen, Dagang Nexchange was 9.5 sen firmer at 78.5 sen while Velesto was unchanged at 17 sen.

Top loser Vitrox shed 76 sen to RM17.04 while top gainer Heineken surged RM1.40 to RM24.90.

On the index board, FBM Emas declined 32.05 points to 11,609.56, FBMT 100 shed 32.25 points to 11,288.09 and FBM Emas Shariah was 58.22 points lower at 13,060.87.

The FBM 70 strengthened 16.07 points to 15,375.42 and the FBM ACE soared 194.31 points to 11,442.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 57.20 points to 14,815.58, Healthcare Index shrank 58.19 points to 3,393.35, Plantation Index dwindled 31.99 points to 7,157.06, and Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.44 of-a-point to 181.83. — Bernama