KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed lower at mid-day, dragged down by persistent selling in selected heavyweights mainly in the financial services sector and staying in sync with the downbeat regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 0.67 per cent, or 10.08 points, to 1,488.75 from yesterday's close of 1,498.83.

Public Bank fell seven sen to RM4.32, Maybank and CIMB dropped nine sen each to RM9.01 and RM5.96, respectively, and Hong Leong Bank erased 28 sen to RM18.90. These stocks pulled the benchmark index down by a combined 6.6 points.

The FBM KLCI, which opened 1.03 points weaker at 1,497.80, moved between 1,487.90 and 1,497.80 during the morning session.

On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 611 to 281, while 425 counters were unchanged, 902 untraded and 20 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 3.02 billion units worth RM1.37 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd forecast further consolidation within the construction, properties and building material segments after a strong rally over the past five sessions.

"Meanwhile, the laggards that buying interest may pick up could be the plantation, transportation and logistics, as well as telecommunications (sectors).

"Nonetheless, we still expect the Johor theme and the potential revival of Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail catalysts to provide overall buying support in the stock market going forward,” it added.

Among the other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals slid eight sen to RM7.02, Press Metal Aluminium increased three sen to RM4.90, and Nestle gained 80 sen to RM119.80.

Of the actives, TWL Holdings rose five sen to five sen and Minetech Resources edged up one sen to 24.5 sen, while Fintec Global inched down half-a-sen to one sen, Pan Malaysia trimmed one sen to 14 sen, and Hong Seng Consolidated was flat at 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index went down 55.78 points to 5,387.16, the FBM Emas Index weakened 58.94 points to 11,107.21, the FBMT 100 Index lost 60.28 points to 10,753.43, the FBM 70 Index reduced 33.31 points to 15,076.06, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 25.37 points to 11,241.28.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.33 of-a-point to 176.78, the Financial Services Index narrowed 170.75 points to 16,565.17, the Plantation Index slipped 4.75 points to 7,077.44, the Property Index dipped 12.28 points to 892.59, and the Energy Index eased 2.23 points to 842.26. ― Bernama