KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at midday as weak risk appetite amid the hung Parliament scenario continued to weigh on demand.

At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.02 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,442.3 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,449.32.

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

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 591 to 247, while 295 counters were unchanged, 1,199 untraded and 48 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.96 billion units valued at RM1.54 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors were likely to remain cautious while awaiting the final outcome of the negotiations among various political parties later in the afternoon.

"The market sentiment may remain tepid and trade negatively before the submission of prime minister candidates’ names to Istana Negara at 2pm today,” it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals eased three sen to RM8.59 and IHH Healthcare trimmed two sen to RM5.95, while Tenaga and Hong Leong Bank gave up four sen each to RM8.34 and RM20.62, respectively.

Public Bank added one sen to RM4.32, CIMB rose four sen to RM5.45, and Maybank was flat at RM8.56.

Among the actives, Advance Synergy bagged 4.5 sen to 17 sen, Dagang Nexchange increased 8.5 sen to 59 sen, Malayan United added one sen to 10 sen, and Eden gained three sen to 20 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 47.41 points to 10,231.83, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 48.05 points to 10,350.72, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 44.43 points for 9,966.18, and the FBM 70 contracted 38.49 points to 12,121.01.

However, the FBM ACE gained 1.09 points to 4,916.01.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 65.55 points to 6,814.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.95 of a point to 177.656, the Financial Services Index eased 6.28 points to 16,169.52, and the Energy Index shed 3.47 points to 719.86. — Bernama