KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Bursa Malaysia stayed lower at mid-morning, weighed down by selling pressures in selected heavyweights, mainly the utilities sector.

YTL Power International was 11.0 sen lower at RM3.62, YTL Corporation eased 8.0 sen to RM2.17, and Petronas Gas slid 34 sen to RM17.52. These counters dragged the composite index down by a combined 4.20 points.

At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 5.67 points to 1,607.58 from Friday’s close of 1,613.25.

The index opened 2.63 points lower at 1,610.62.

Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 538 to 299, while 459 counters were unchanged, 1,180 untraded, and 13 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.29 billion units valued at RM797.50 million.

Among other heavyweights, CelcomDigi lost 5.0 sen to RM3.62, Petronas Chemicals shaved 6.0 sen to RM4.82, Petronas Dagangan gave up 22 sen to RM20.18, while Tenaga Nasional added 8.0 sen to RM13.60, and IHH Healthcare rose 3.0 sen to RM7.35.

Of the active stocks, MY EG edged up 2.5 sen to 94.5 sen, Top Glove picked up 1.0 sen to RM1.33, and DataPrep inched up half-a-sen to 15.5 sen, while Zen Tech and Hong Seng Consolidated were flat at 1.0 sen and 1.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 33.71 points to 12,313.19, the FBMT 100 Index declined 32.36 points to 11,995.34, the FBM 70 Index reduced 13.42 points to 18,386.79, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 31.77 points to 12,291.36, and the FBM ACE Index narrowed 25.37 points to 5,281.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index erased 30.11 points to 19,135.50, the Plantation Index weakened 10.05 points to 7,730.21, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.78 of-a-point lower to 175.02, and the Energy Index eased 1.72 points to 827.41. — Bernama