KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 ― Bursa Malaysia remained on a downtrend at mid-afternoon as cautious sentiment persisted in the midst of the weaker regional market performance.

At 3.03pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 16.54 points to 1,602 from 1,618.54 at yesterday's close.

The index opened 2.54 points lower at 1,616.00.

Market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 867 to 176, while 296 counters were unchanged, 901 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.32 billion units worth RM1.95 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed six sen to RM9.06, Public Bank was one sen lower at RM4.42, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare stood at RM10 and RM6.57, respectively, while Press Metal added eight sen to RM7.30.

As for the actives, SMTrack stayed at 20 sen, DNeX shed five sen to RM1.03 and China Automobile gained one sen to two sen.

On the index board, FBM 70 fell 239.72 points to 13,198.38, FBM ACE lost 157.13 points to 5,519.46, FBM Emas Index declined 146.07 points to 11,331.60, FBMT 100 Index decreased 132.15 points to 11,022.59, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 191.89 points to 12,049.76.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 95.42 points to 16,412.06, the Industrial Products and Services Index weakened 0.98 of-a-point to 213.34, and the Plantation Index slipped 243.21 points to 8,539.38. ― Bernama