KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at mid-afternoon due to profit-taking activities in selected heavyweight counters, led by the utilities sector.

YTL Power International Bhd shed 40 sen to RM4.82 and YTL Corp Bhd slid 17 sen to RM3.20, weighing down the composite index by a combined 5.15 points.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.57 points to 1,579.09 from yesterday’s close of 1,582.66.

The benchmark index opened 0.92 of-a-point better at 1,583.58.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 553 to 413, while 479 counters were unchanged, 892 untraded and 74 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.86 billion units worth RM2.08 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slid one sen to RM9.74, Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.15 and IHH Healthcare lost four sen to RM6.33.

CIMB added one sen to RM6.62 while Tenaga Nasional rose four sen to RM11.96.

As for the actives, Classita Holdings edged up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, MyEG gained 3.5 sen to 94.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide bagged 2.5 sen to 10.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide warrant added one sen to four sen, while Main Market debutant MKH Oil Palm was flat at 62 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 22.92 points to 11,878.10, the FBMT 100 Index shed 23.72 points to 11,511.54, the FBM 70 Index fell 24.69 points to 16,576.80, the FBM ACE Index slipped 26.19 points to 5,065.82, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 3.28 points to 12,087.76.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 34.98 points to 17,238.42, the Energy Index lost 5.64 points to 974.85, the Plantation Index shaved 15.45 points to 7,443.82, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.38 of-a-point to 188.96. ― Bernama