KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-afternoon, with the key index wallowing in the negative territory, as uncertainty over the formation of a new government continued to weigh on market sentiment.

At 3.12pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.43 points or 0.51 per cent to 1,441.89 from Thursday’s close of 1,449.32.

The market bellwether opened 14.77 points lower at 1,434.55.

On the broader market, decliners trounced advancers 588 to 277, while 320 counters were unchanged, 1,147 untraded, and 48 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 3.45 billion units valued at RM1.8 billion.

The GE15 held on Saturday resulted in a hung parliament where no single coalition have enough seats for a simple majority.

The deadline for political party and coalition leaders to submit their proposed coalition to form the new government and name of Prime Minister candidate, which was initially set at 2 pm today, has been extended until 2 pm tomorrow.

Comptroller of Istana Negara Royal Household Datuk Seri Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had consented to the extension of time following requests received from the leaders.

"His Majesty also reminded everyone that the country’s administration is still running as usual under the caretaker Prime Minister based on the principles outlined for the caretaker government,” he said in a statement here, today.

Meanwhile, CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd expects the hung Parliament would cause significant stock market volatility.

"In the longer term, we will be positive if the new government takes steps towards institutional and political reforms. We cut our KLCI target to 1,484 points for end-2022 to reflect short-term political uncertainties,” it said in a note today.

Among heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare slipped one sen each to RM8.61 and RM5.96 respectively, while Tenaga shed five sen to RM8.33.

Public Bank added one sen to RM4.32, CIMB gained 9.0 sen to RM5.50, while Maybank was flat at RM8.56.

As for the actives, Advance Synergy bagged three sen to 15.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange rose 7.5 sen to 58 sen, Malayan United Industries added one sen to 10 sen, while Eden perked up 3.5 sen to 20.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 46.81 points lower at 10,232.43, the FBMT 100 Index declined 45.07 points to 9,965.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 51.73 points to 10,347.03, the FBM 70 dipped 29.55 points to 12,129.95, and the FBM ACE increased 27.71 points to 4,942.63.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.87 of-a-point to 177.73, the Plantation Index fell 56.39 points to 6,823.84, the Energy Index shed 2.06 points to 721.27, while the Financial Services Index rose 11.92 points to 16,187.72. — Bernama